Pandemonium
by redcristal
Summary: She was fated to die, so die she did. After all, she was the Prophecy Girl. Xander's attempt to save her failed. But for Buffy, death is just the beginning of her next adventure.
1. Info

**PANDEMONIUM**

This fic is answer of Embarr's personal challenge on TTH, that spawned _Dance of the water lilies_ and one other two others Naruto/BtVS cross Buffy centric fics. Now Pandemonium is finally ready to be posted on .

Now as Enbarr's challenge goes:

Pandemonium means all the demons... take this as you will for the challenge.

**Requirements**:

**1.** Must be a Buffy central story. No offence to Xander, but he gets a lot of attention in these Naruto fics.

**2.** She must go to Konoha, travelling through the hidden villages is also an option.

**3.** NO Halloween scenarios, thank you.

**4.** Buffy must have a romantic relationship with one of the male Naruto characters. An exception to this rule is any Uchiha. Please, no tall, dark and broody again!

**5.** Optional: Buffy travels alone. If you can squeeze a few Scoobies into the plot skilfully, go ahead.

**Rating**: up to you

**Mushiness**: To a minimum. Subtlety, please!

**Comments from me, about the story I wrote:**

1. That part of the challenge was not trouble, since I tend to focus more on Buffy than other BtVS characters, the only exception that I am beginning to find are, Faith and Oz. Xander I seem to completely miss out that means I'll have to put Dance of the water lilies on hold, until I get Xander characteristic more under control.

2. At the moment Buffy is only been at Konoha, oh and in chapter 4 she goes to the Wave Country, there are no hidden villages there.

was rendered impossible, since Buffy ends up in Konoha at the end of Prophecy Girl in Season one of BTVS.

4. That again was no problem, while yes I give a hint at possible ship with Buffy in chapter two it will be a while for both of the characters to get together.

5. There will be no others Scoobies in Pandemonium.

Now dear readers if you are interested in an actual story, there is a button that you have to press...I hope you'll enjoy your read...and if you do don't hesitate to tell me about it.


	2. Chapter 1

**Pandemonium**

**Disclaimer**: I do NOT own characters from Naruto or Buffy. And some lines are from the First season's BtVS episode, Prophecy Girl.

**Summary**: She was fated to die, so die she did. After all, she was the Prophecy Girl. Xander's attempt to save her failed. But for Buffy, death is just the beginning of her next adventure.

**Warning! Character death!**

**In addition**: I know that some things mentioned in this story didn't exist at the time Prophecy girl was aired, so if you have a serious issue with that, you might as well press the back button as I am not changing a thing. It's there for a reason. Don't like, don't read.

Thank you Hannah, for speedy bate read. And of course thank you Embarr for posting this challenge.

**Chapter One**

Cold night air hit her face when she stepped into the school yard, walking the path, which lead her further in to the night. Casting her eyes upwards for a second, studying the stars, a blond teenage girl in a pretty snow-white dress smiled sadly before resuming her march toward…well, possible, almost certain, death. All she hoped, was that she'd take her would be killer with her.

Feeling a bit melancholic she resumed her musings that she had banished to a dark corner of her mind for nearly a year and a half.

No mater what people say, they always die alone. Now, being a teen, naturally she didn't think about dying all that much. Of course, that line of thinking about death did pop up from time to time since after her fifteenth birthday, more accurately soon after, she received a death sentence. Naturally, when it first started, being the Slayer was a way to escape from home, from the fact that her parents were fighting over anything and everything. But that did not last. Soon Merrick's, and then Giles, her watcher's words, trickled into her consciousness. One dies the other rises. For her to be called as a Chosen One, one girl in the world with the power and skill to fight vampires, and the occasional demon, another had to die. Her death would bring forth another girl somewhere in the world to take up the mantle.

Sometimes she forgot about it. Sometimes investigating murders in LA, Vegas and later Sunnydale, patrolling cemeteries and training and research and study sessions with Merrick; something Giles never did with her or even let her do, why she had no idea but she never brought up the issue after all both Giles and Willow were there so there was no need. Understandingly, the thought of dying was suppressed as deep as possible, but sometimes, when she was alone and tired from the daily activities at school, her chores at home, studying, homework, and patrol, the thought popped up.

A prophecy in The Codex, foretelling that The Slayer would face the Master and die and The Anointed One would lead her to her unknowing doom.

Well that was wrong, she knew who the Annoying one was, a kid, and she knew very well what was foretold. So either way, the _unmistakable_ Codex was wrong about that. Here was to hoping that it was wrong about more than that.

Her musings were cut short when she comes upon a small sniffling child, repressing an annoyed snort she thought back to the family picture she saw when she investigated a Prophecy about the rising of the Anointed One. The ruse that the ancient trapped vampire put forward worked for a while, but the fact that this kid, Colin, was the only one that was missing in the morgue…well it was a no brainier.

"Help me" he whimpered, raising his tear-streaked face.

Repressing the urge to just ram a stake trough Collins heart, turn around, and march back to the library, telling Giles to forget it…only the memory of the massacre in the AV room and the fact that somehow, tonight, The Master will be free, stops her.

"Its okay, I know who you are." Colin holds out his hand, she takes it and he starts to lead her away to the Master.

The raspy voice of an ancient vampire echoes through the dark cave around the frozen girl in white, paralysed by ancient vampire hypnotic powers.

"You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They do not tell you everything."

Even if he hadn't held her with that pesky power of his, she'd freeze at that, figuring out what that means. Giles and Angel were wrong to assume that Prophecy is cut in stone, she wanted to kick herself, that in her fear and then panic, she forgot what Merrick told her, _'Nothing is set in stone, Buffy, remember that, don't follow the rules and you'll do great. You will be great.'_

Worst part was, those were his last words, right before he died sacrificing his life so that she could go away. And she forgot that! Her mind was whirling with information, an echo of a memory. In letting Angel and Giles insistence for what is written will happen, in forgetting Merrick's last words when he told her to run, it had come to this!

"You are the one that sets me free."

He was whispering, now of course the vampire would gloat. If she could move, or even blink, she'd roll her eyes at the evil overlord cliché line. She knew that when he finished his evil monologue he would walk away from this and she'd be dead.

"If you hadn't come, I could not go. Think about that!"

What's there to think about? Her only hope was that the next girl would kick his ass, but she'd need help. She wouldn't be able to do it alone. Hopefully, the next one will be smarter than her and break the rules even more than she herself did.

She almost misses the bite at the base of her neck. She barely feels it. After half a minute or so, she is let go. She falls on to her knees, not from blood loss, he hadn't taken that much, but her legs felt like they were not her own.

"Oh, God! The power!"

Oh god the irony. A vampire moaning about God. Now if only she could just stay like this until the paralysis let up, then maybe she'd survive this.

"And by the way," she feels a light tap at the middle of her shoulder blades and pitches forward. "I like you dress." Then she falls face down into the pool of water. He steps over the edge of his confines and pushes against the field again. Like before the barrier ripples in golden and red hues, resisting, but he forces his hand through and his confines break in a violent burst of light; energy rippling through the cave in waves, illuminating the otherwise dark cavern in shades of vibrant red.

In the tunnels two dark haired men stopped when the red light reaches them. Those two were no other than Angel, a vampire cursed with a soul, and Xander Harris, a friend that Buffy made her first day coming to Sunnydale. You know how story goes, boy meets hot girl, girl sees a goofy boy fall on his face, boy overhears something weird, then hot girl saves him from vampires dusting them. End of short story.

"What was that?" Xander asks his broody companion.

"It's too late. He has gone up."

They break into a run for the Master's lair, Angel leading the way. He is the first in the cave and, as he looks around, a speck of white caches his attention. He scrambles down to the floor and rushes to the fallen girl just as Xander reaches the lair's entrance. Xander stops and stares at Buffy, face down in the pool of water. Angel quickly pulls her out. He holds her, and tries to listen for breathing.

Nothing.

He looks up at Xander.

"She is dead."

Xander looks down at them and swallows hard.

She didn't know how long it had been, she remembered trying to hold her breath when she pitched forward, when that bastard _pushed_ her forward, and she drowned and it hurt…and then warmth, she thought it would be cold but she felt warm, it felt like forever, yet no time, had passed at all before she was suddenly yanked into blinding light. The only thing she could do was scream at the top of her lungs and flail her arms and legs while firmly clamping her aching eyes closed. She continued to scream until, suddenly, she felt her body wrapped into something soft and warm. Her now inhibited arms and legs felt weird, like they were much to short.

It didn't take long to figure out that she was now a newborn. And since she could see colourful blurs, she figured that one was her mom and the other, bigger one, was her dad. After that she spent a lot of her time sleeping and eating and sleeping…and listening to the big blurs talk. But it was not English. From what she could tell it sounded like Japanese. Looks like her little, very well hidden, obsession with subbed Anime enabled her to pick up some of the words.

When she entered the age of a toddler, her senses were better. She could explore her surroundings and, best of all, her parents took her with them into the market and their workplace where she nearly had a heart attack when she spotted _Mitarashi Anko_ and _Yuhi Kurenai_ eating dango.

When she first noticed that her mother had indigo, with a tint of mulberry, coloured hair, and her dad had white locks and amber eyes it made her wonder then, how did she look? So one day she waddled up to a mirror and had taken a look…and well, it wasn't too bad. She had her father's eyes, and light lavender coloured hair with a mulberry tint like her mother. So, all in all, not too bad.

"Ahh, Koyuki!" came the voice tearing Buffy from her musings just in time to gape at Uzuki Yugao who was waving at her mother.

"Yūgao! It's been months since I saw you; ANBU is keeping you busy I see."

"Yes. Is this my niece? Look how she's grown! Just couple months ago she was no bigger then a loaf of bread."

_Uzuki Yūgao_ is my aunt, Buffy thought looking at the ANBU with big eyes. Well, guess that purple hair ran in the family then.

Said ANBU crouched down to her level.

"Hey there Kochō-chan."

On her third birthday her mom and dad took her to the park where she made a friend. It came as a surprise to her, since, when she had watched the Anime series, that particular character did not appeal to her. She didn't hate said character, like a certain two or three that she wouldn't mention right now, but Buffy just did not think that much of her.

She was playing in the sand box when she was approached by none other then Yamamaka Ino. The blond haired, blue-eyed girl held a peony out to her.

"Hi, I'm Yamanaka Ino. Wanna be friends?"

Buffy giggled "I'm Shunran Kochō and yep" she answered, still smiling at the blond girl, taking the offered flower.

Soon Ino and her had become fast friends, who played hide and seek, playing dressed up, of course, playing ninja. Ino kind of reminded her of a strange combination of Willow and Cordelia. It made her feel nostalgic at some times. But, unlike Cordelia, Ino had shown a frightening amount of perspective toward others emotional state. Supposedly, that came from being a part of the Yamanaka clan, just as being intelligent and lazy came from the Nara clan, or being fat…sorry, _chubby_, came with being an Akimichi.

Speaking of those other two clans, she had yet to meet Shikamaru and Choji, but hanging around with Ino, Kochō figured sooner or later that she'd meet them; sooner rather than later. And while Ino shared Willow's resolve and drive to prove herself, she was not shy. No wonder she was able to pry Sakura out of her shell…Sakura, hmm, Buffy had not seen the pink haired girl as of yet.

Come to think of it, she hadn't seen the star of the show or the duck butt around either.

That means The Massacre hadn't happened yet…could she stop it? Did she even _want_ to meddle with this, since they were gunning for civil war? _Should_ she meddle in the story at all…well, in a way, she didn't have much of a choice. She was part of the story now.

_She was here, right now._

But changing something so earth shattering, it would be like playing God. And she was not one. She could not predict the future. Saving Uchiha clan, assuming she somehow could do that, might mean destroying the entire village. After all, the flap of a butterfly's wings could cause a tsunami or summer storm somewhere down the line. It was like the ripples in a pond. The more she meddled, bigger were the waves she might create.

She'd need to be careful how, and when, to meddle, since the possibility of catastrophe would be high.

A slight poke to her forehead brought her out of her musings.

"Hey, Kochō, you are spacing out." Buffy blinked, then focused on her friend. They were at the park picking flowers and making crowns.

"Sorry, Ino"

"Mou, you are like Shikamaru when you do that."

"Shikamaru?"

"Yeah, oh you don't know Shika-chan do you? Come with me, you'll meet the laziest bum in Konoha!" Ino dragged Kochō toward the large oak tree and, sure enough, under the shade, hidden out of view from just about everyone, was none other than Nara Shikamaru.

Laying on his back and watching the clouds, or perhaps sleeping.

Kochō didn't voice her intentions of becoming kunoichi till she was six, when her parents mentioned to her that she'd start school soon.

And soon after she started at the Academy, the moment she entered the designated classroom she looked around for familiar faces and, yes, there was Ino, so she started walking towards her friend, while glancing around to see some very familiar characters…er, people. There was Kiba, with Akamaru on his head, and Sasuke, who was actually talking to some boys with a happy expression on his face. So it didn't happen yet.

Unfortunately for Kochō, her attention on a certain Uchiha didn't go unnoticed.

Ino followed her friend's very focused line of sight until she found what interested her best friend so much that she had spaced out again and, when she did, she couldn't resist.  
"You like him don't you?" she teased.

That certainly got Kochō's attention back. She took a seat by Ino.

"Like who?"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Was Ino's smug reply. Though watching Kochō make huge eyes and blush very slightly, certainly made Ino's day.

"What? No!" that was just great. Ino just had to see her gawking at some boy and spacing out, it didn't help that she felt the heat rushing to her cheeks. She just knew that she was blushing like a teenager caught staring at her crush…now wasn't that an interesting thought. She'd be going through puberty again.

Kochō groaned.

Great…maybe she should draw that fruit-punch-mouth-of-a-vampire who killed her and throw darts at the drawing.

"You were staring at him."

"No I wasn't."

"Yes you were."

"Nope."

"Yep."

"No."

"Yes."

Kochō then rolled her eyes at her friend, since she really didn't have any other excuses for staring at the boy. It's not like she could say, _'I was staring at him because, in a few years from now, that boy will have his whole family massacred by his adored older brother then will turn all emo and crazy and will want revenge so much that he'll willing join forces with the pedo-Snake Sannin for power'._

Her annoyance at the situation only increased during lunch break, when Ino dragged her straight towards Sasuke.

"Hey, I'm Ino and this is Kochō," she greeted. "Want to eat lunch with us?"

Sasuke grinned at us and gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yeah!"

Ino gave her a little, and very smug, smirk. Sighing Kochō gave in and asked a question herself, "So, Sasuke," no way she'd add –kun to the name, "how do you like academy so far?"

Sasuke gave another beaming smile, which gave yet another shock to her system, much to Ino's glee, when she noticed, and much to Kochō's embarrassment.

"I love it!" he said with a cheer, "And I learned a lot of this stuff before from Nii-san."

Ino giggled. "Yeah, you never put your hand down."

The three of them ended up chatting for the entire meal, mostly about Itachi. It felt horrible to Buffy knowing that Itachi would kill his entire clan, and that this now cheerful Sasuke would become the doom and gloom boy that she saw at the beginning of the Anime. She really wanted to preserve the innocence of current Sasuke, but Buffy knew that she could not. Not only did she lack the power to do so, but the consequences could be of the major bad.

Next day, finally, the missing person appeared. And seriously, that orange jump suit looked worse in real life than it did on TV.

But in general, as the days trickled by and soon the year passed, the academy was fun. Especially when Naruto pranked somebody, usually the teacher, which happened often. Or as often as said teacher could ignore the bundle of energy's, which was Naruto's, existence. Which was all the time.

It was strange however, when Iruka started to teach, that he ignored Naruto just like the other teachers before him. Sheesh. No wonder he had learning problems and thought that "chakra" was "katra" or something similar. Also this was the year that Itachi started to distance himself from Sasuke and she knew that the date of the massacre was closing in.

On Iruka-sensei's second day of the job, he was pranked by Naruto but, instead of scolding him, Iruka told Naruto to sit on his seat and then preceded to ignore him all the time.

Kochō twitched in her seat in irritation when she heard snickers from Hibachi and his minions. Her bad mood carried over to lunch, alone, since Sasuke was with his friends throwing kunai, and Ino was home with a cold. She'd have to go and visit her after class ends.

All appetite waned when she saw Naruto getting cornered by Hibachi and several others because of Naruto's failed attempts at doing better than Sasuke. How in the world could he do better when nobody cared enough to correct his mistakes? A slight tic mark appeared on back of her head. A she slowly stood from her sitting position and made her way round towards the bullies, an ominous dark aura surrounded her making Shikamaru, who was lazing by the nearby bench, mutter his trademark "troublesome".

Without turning Kochō stopped, "Choji, I lost my appetite, you can eat my lunch." Then she resumed her way towards the cluster. She arrived just in time to hear Iruka say to the bullies not bother with a kid like him.

As Iruka and the students turned around they missed the crestfallen expression on the blonde boy's face. Fortunately, for the boys and the teacher, with that look on his face Naruto had just unknowingly saved them from the worst tongue lashing in history. The former head cheerleader and Siesta Queen knew how to throw just about anyone on their asses with a few well-placed words.

"You know, I wanted to say something, but it's really not worth the trouble." She stated calmly, watching the teacher and the boys, before proceeding to walk out calmly, albeit for a slight tension in her shoulders like she was holding something back. And she was. She really didn't want to spook her target.

Iruka blinked, he could have sworn that he felt a heavy killer intent coming from the little girl who just passed by him and his other students and, judging from Hibachi-kun and his friend's reactions, they had felt it too since they were frozen to their spots.

He turned to look at what could possibly irritate his other student so much that her annoyance would turn visibly palpable around her. Then, he just stared as the girl stepped only a foot away from the Kyuubi container.

"Hello, I'm Kochō. You are Naruto, right?"

A wary look met hers for a moment, searching and sensing out the girl's lingering anger. He took a hesitant step back and, seeing this reaction, Buffy tried hard to rein in her still high temper.

"Don't mind them when they're being idiots. They're just jealous." She waved her hand back at the boys who bullied him earlier.

"Hey, no way I'm jealous of the loser that can't even throw a kunai or make a bunshin."

Reaching to grab Naruto's hand so that he wouldn't hightail it out of there, she slowly turned around to the boy who spoke and smiled a very unnerving smile.

"Well since nobody teaches him how to throw properly he is doing just fine, wouldn't you say Hibachi-boo? Also, the reason he can't make proper clones is because he has more chakra than this entire school combined, teachers included, and hasn't learned how to control it. Now shut your mouth before I shut it for you," she finished, hissing the last part through her teeth menacingly, smile still in place.

Then she turned back to the now wide-eyed Naruto, "See? Total jealousy! So, since Choji ate my lunch, do you know any good places…." before she could even finish that sentence she felt a tug as Naruto gripped her hand and started running towards the fence, which they jumped over with ease. And so, for the first time in this new life, Buffy ditched school in favor of eating ramen with an orange clad, goggle-wearing, son-of-the-Fourth-Hokage. Not that he knew about that little detail. Or about Kurama.

Could she do something about that?  
…hmmm.

It was at the Ichiraku ramen stand that Umino Iruka found them.

"What were you two thinking?!" he screamed, startling the two seven-year olds with his big-head jutsu.

"That eating ramen with a friend is a very good idea and I would not miss it for the world, right Naruto?"

"Friend?" came from the kitchen in the back as a slender, slightly older, girl stepped by her father. "What is this, Naruto-kun?! You brought a girl?"

"Ayame-nee! Teuchi oji-san!" exclaimed Naruto, and then he waved toward Buffy, "This is Kochō-chan. Dattebayo."

Buffy gave a little wave to the Ramen chef and his daughter.

"Ehh, well then, since our best customer brought his girl friend," the man chuckled at the frozen expression on the girl's face, while the boy was completely oblivious at the double meaning. The girl apparently caught on to it, but then, to his amusement, just resumed eating while muttering 'yeah, she is a girl, and his friend, so what?' so he continued. "the next serving of ramen is on the house."

"**YATTTA**!"

"Come on Iruka-sensei! Sit down, have a bowl, and get to know the student you don't know." Said Kochō, under Naruto's loud yell, tapping their teacher's forearm to gain his attention.

Iruka felt conflicted. Seeing Naruto so at ease with the staff at Ichiraku and their treatment of the boy come as a shock. And also, Kochō's quiet words hit directly on the mark.

He did not know Naruto.

So then and there, Umino Iruka made a decision. He would ignore received advice from the faculty members and get to know the real Naruto.

He never regretted this decision.

Ino and Kochō walked home together discussing Sasuke and what happened to the Uchiha clan. And what they could do to help out Sasuke. Buffy had to endure a bit of teasing from Ino about the, now, last Uchiha of Konoha, but it wasn't so bad. Kochō also introduced Ino and Naruto and after some initial apprehension on Ino's part, the two blonds become friends as well. So all in all, Naruto was not as alone as he was in the canon.

As for the academy, Iruka started to pay attention to Naruto's education. Soon, Naruto's reading skills improved and, while yes he was still too hyperactive to stay still for too long, especially if the story was boring, and while he still could not make a clone properly or do genjutsu, his other skills soared; so much, that Iruka taught him that dolphin wave jutsu, or whatever it's called. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, since the length of a detection range depended on how much chakra you had, same as Shunshin no Jutsu and basic sealing (that he used in pranks, exploding paint when one sat down to be exact), Naruto apparently took to it as a duck to water.

Kochō herself roped the shinobi she knew, namely her aunt, to help her with chakra control and medical jutsu. Anko taught her about poisons, and some other things that were way too traumatizing to mention. Luckily, she knew what Anko was like before asking her about poisons. She knew that her teaching would involve snakes somehow and, boy, was she right. But hey, luckily before she approached her psycho sensei, she worked on her chakra reserves so that she could escape the snakes on the water, up the wall, or a tree, and the barriers were a lifesaver. See? Watching Anime could come in handy! Some things she could do, that were not in Naruto, took a lot of experimenting, a lot of failures, and a lot of sweat, tears, blood, and chakra exertion. But some things she could transfer to her new life. Soon Anko was joined by Kurenai, who was depressed by her inability to teach/save her student, Yakumo, who refused to see her. So Anko involved her in to torturing Buffy. And yes she meant torture.

Needles to say, she was regaining her old Slayer endurance and durability pretty fast. It also helped that she kept the ease that Slayers had at learning how to fight with various weaponry, which translated over to learning new jutsu. Though she could not for the life of her, do any earth, lightning or wind elemental jutsu's.

But water or fire, now that was easy. And she specialized in using butterfly swords.

She was glad she still had some slayer reserves. Otherwise she would not be able to walk down the street right now with Ino. In fact, she'd probably be buried six feet under.

That was when they spotted a hunched over, pink-haired girl crying alone on the street. It only took a moment for Kochō to connect the dots. This was the day when Ino and Sakura become friends.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked.

"They said my forehead is big." Sakura explained through sobs; her voice coming out muffled due to the fact that she hid her tear-stained face being her hands.

"You always get called forehead girl and get picked on, eh?" Ino grinned, "I am Yamanaka Ino and this is Shunran Kochō"

"Hi, you're name is Sakura, right? You're in our class?"

Sakura nodded, "I'm Haruno Sakura, please to meet you."

"Aha!" Ino exclaimed in triumph, holding up a red ribbon before Sakura's eyes.

"What's that for?"

"To hold up your hair silly."

"But my forehead."

Kochō gave the panicked girl a small smile, "You cover it up like that and it just brings more attention to it. That hair style really doesn't suit you. Besides it's going to be cute, you'll see."

Sakura looked skeptical.

"Look if Ino and I are wrong, which we aren't, you can always not wear the ribbon." Ino nodded and Sakura relented.

After that, the three girls were inseparable. And so time once again moved forward, and Kochō's tenth birthday rolled over, where she invited all her friends for a party and sleep over.

She could not believe that only three years were left in the Academy. Time sure moves fast.

Even the infamous Kochō tantrum explosion in the family store that had landed her, her immediate family, and a couple of costumers in the Hokage office, which led to her blackmailing three certain shinobi in to training Naruto, was distant memory.

_Flash back_

Kochō and Naruto walked in to the Shunran mitarahi dango store where Buffy introduced her latest friend to her parents. Suddenly everything went wrong. She kind of thought that with her aunt being ANBU that they'd be accepting, even if four present costumers were glaring.

Words were exchanged and Naruto ran out, well, thrown out by Kochō's father while her mother held her back.

Then her parents and the four regulars tried to discourage Kochō from seeing Naruto again. It didn't end well.

"Why?" she had asked.

"Well he is a bad influence."

"The only bad is his fashion sense."

"Nobody likes him."

"Nobody bothers to get to know him."

"I forbid it."

"Why, because the Fourth Hokage sealed Kyuubi in to Naruto? He would be soo disappointed to hear that his sealing ability was downplayed. In fact, I bet he's rolling in his grave right now because of how Naruto is treated. It's obvious that the seal is HOLDING IT BACK! Naruto is just as much a savior as the Fourth for JAILIING THE FOX!"

As soon as the last shout from the girl died down, the ANBU, and two jonins, appeared whisking away everyone present. When Kochō opened her eyes she, her parents and four costumers were standing before the Hokage.

"H…Hokage-sama…we…"

"At ease, I am well aware that none of the adults present broke the law," he then turned to the girl. "But I'm curious to know who did, Kochō-chan?"

"No one. I kinda figured out after reading about Tailed Beasts in the library." It was true, she did find a book about it, "I read there that there are other nations who had at least one, so from there," she gave a tiny shrug before looking at late Hokage's photos, studying the Fourth's picture. "Naruto was born on October 10th, then the glares, the name calling, some of the teachers sabotaged him." She made a show of looking more intently at the picture, not that she minded, Namikaze was an eye candy for sure, and then she smiled. "Though I hadn't known how right I was when I said that The Fourth is rolling in his grave. He must be very angry at how Konoha is treating his son."

"What!" came a shout from her parents and the customers. Then they started to study the picture more closely. Their reactions, after couple of minutes of intense study, were certainly entertaining. There were jaw drops, bugged eyes, sweat drops, and the best one was from the jonin named Shiranui Genma who just connected some more dots about the boy. Ohhh opportunity to be a smart ass.

"Hokage-sama is this true?" that came from Namiashi Raidō while the other, jonin Shiranui Genma, just adjusted his senbon.

"Well he does looks like him, but his dattebayo is just like Kushina's…ah…Minato-sama certainly had courage there. Heh" he started to chuckle while his partner shot him an annoyed look.

"And you could not mention this to me sooner."

Genma just shrugged.

"He could not tell you, because it's a SS classed secret. So what you, all of you find out here, must remain here." A puff of smoke "Now you can go. Kochō-chan remain for a moment."

The room cleared, her parent's left to wait in the hall. ANBU blended in to the shadows, but not before Kochō received a hair ruffling at the hands of a cat faced ANBU with long straight purple hair.

The only ones remaining before the old Hokage, were the two jonin and Kochō.

Flashback end

Waiting for Mizuki to approach her friend was hard for two reasons. One of them was because of what would happen in the clearing between the two teachers and the student, but also because of Tsubaki. She met the woman, Tsubaki, even helped her with reviving the bird. Maybe she should play matchmaker to occupy herself. Hmmm…now who would be the other victim? Maybe she should rope in some other people in do it? After all, Mizuki and Tsubaki were never officially together. And Mizuki became distant from her. So she should put her on a sort of a rebound guy.

Asuma is out because of Kurenai.

Kakashi is a possibility (her closet Kaka/Shizu shipper aside).

Genma, Raido, some other…oh Iruka too, and she could make it so that they meet. Now she'd had to rope Ino and Anko into helping her with it…

the other reason, leaving Naruto behind, knowing he'd fail one lousy test, was hard, but it was essential that he learn the Kage Bunshin technique. Truth be told, she was a bit **annoyed** that none of the former Fourth Hokage's shinobi guard squad taught him said technique.

Kochō blinked in surprise. "What?" while Anko snickered in the background. "Care to run down this by me again?" she asked Ino, who just repeated the sentence that was giving her so much trouble…

"Kochō-chan you better watch your back."

"Yeah I got that part, it's the next part I have problem with."

Anko give out another snicker, and then she waved Ino on, who had way to much fun on Kochō's expense.

"Now that Sasuke is all mysteries and broody, lots of girls in Academy think he is hot."

"Yeah and what has Sasuke being the IT at school have to do with me again?" Yeah, she had a suspicion on that, darn it. And while she managed to fool Ino, judging by the eye roll her friend was giving her, she wasn't fooling a special jōnin sensei, her one of two accomplices of the operation Annoy the EMO out of Duck Butt, ATEOODB for short, who was now clutching her stomach all teary-eyed. Dammit. It wasn't that funny.

"Because you are the only girl he talks to any more, and Naruto, but he is not a girl, and the others are getting jealous."

Well that would explain the glares every time she'd get within Sasuke's general vicinity. And the sudden tightening of the swarm of girls around said guy. Yeah, she'd seen that one coming. But she ignored the fact that Sasuke had fan girls. She had bigger fish to fry. Or snakes rather. But hey! At least Sakura and Ino were not fan-girling this time around.

She could have shot herself for jinxing it.

A couple of days later, Sakura came to tell us the-oh-so-exiting news, about her crush on Sasuke. Poor Naruto. Though to think of it, Sakura hasn't hit Naruto at all and Naruto hasn't asked her for dates repeatedly, or at all really.

Huh.

She hadn't noticed that. _Weird_.

Not as weird as Ino's look in her direction at Sakura's news of her crush. Honestly, Kochō thought, she really hoped that she convinced Ino that she wasn't in love with Sasuke. Though she regretted losing Sakura as a friend, she also knew that rivalry would propel the girl in to being the second Tsunade.

And so with all that teenage drama, though Kochō still waited for her second puberty to kick in, she was so looking forward to that, not, graduation rolled around.

She was finally _ twelve_. And she was suddenly on pins and needles to learn which team she'd be. Oh, she knew she'd pass the Academy exam, but she didn't know which jōnin sensei she would have. She did know however, which team she wouldn't be _on_.

Orientation came way too fast in her opinion. She hadn't heard from her friends at all, so she didn't know whether Mizuki had tricked Naruto. She really was nervous walking into the classroom.

When she saw her orange-clad friend, yeah, she had failed to convince him to drop the outfit so far, she was relived.

Only to be shocked stupid when the bandaged Iruka told his class that there would be one team of four. She felt her jaw drop at that.

_Was that even allowed?_

Looking around she noticed that none of the other students looked surprised, so it probably wasn't big deal. She nearly missed Iruka's further explanation that, an indivisible number had graduated, hence why one team would have four genin.

Another shock came when she was placed in Team 7. But then, the Hokage knew that she and Naruto hung out a lot, and that he spent a lot of time at her parent's house. Mom and dad had practically adopted him. She knew about the Kyuubi, so maybe he had something to do with it.

And so only four of them were left, waiting for Kakashi. Sasuke sat down and resumed brooding, Naruto was scribing some seals on a scroll, while Sakura alternately glared at her while fawning over Sasuke.

And her, she pulled out a book on plants. An hour or so later we heard words, "My first impression is, you are boring."

"And you are late, -ttebayo! Kai!" and with that seals that were put on the door frame by Naruto exploded in bright shower of glitter and orange paint, obscuring the silver-haired jonin in a puff of orange and shinny pieces of paper for a moment.

The introductions were slightly different from the canon as well. Well, Kakashi's was the same, and Sakura's. Kochō was added to her dislike column. Sasuke was more or less the same, only he added that he liked two people and would like to kill two. Naruto was slightly different too. He added she, Ino, Shino, Kiba, Shikamaru and Choji in to the like column, and annoying Sasuke in to the hobby column, which earned him a glare, a pop to the head from Sakura, and an irritated 'hn' from Sasuke.

And so team 7 was born.

**End chapter.**

Next: D-ran C-rank...

Will Sasuke go with Orichimaru? When will Buffy finally change the story entirely?

****Butterfly swords; The blade of a butterfly sword is roughly as long as a human forearm, which allows for easy concealment inside loose sleeves or boots, and allows greater manoeuvrability when spinning and rotating during close-quarters fighting, they are usually wielded in pairs.  
The butterfly sword has a small cross-guard to protect the hands of the wielder, similar to that of a sai, which can also be used to block or hook an opponent's weapon. In some versions the cross guard is enlarged offering a second handhold, held in this position the swords can be manipulated in a manner akin to a pair of tonfa. They may also be used as brass knuckles when non-lethal application of the weapon is desired.

**Vote**:  
Sadaime Hokage dies: yes or no  
Sasuke gets a snake hickey; yes or no

**Little pop quiz.** Meaning of Buffy's new name is?  
…..well there are hints in the text. The one who guesses right gets...an imaginary cookie?


	3. Chapter 2

**Fair warning the name Buffy will slowly disappear in the course of this story.**

**Chapter two**

Sasuke-kun was running late, which was odd, at least in Sakura's opinion. It was weird waiting alone at the Team 7 training ground. Neither Naruto nor Kochō were there yet. Kakashi sensei was not here yet either. Sakura resumed her pacing. Her stomach rumbled. She was already regretting not eating breakfast, despite Kakashi-sensei's warning the day before.

Sasuke-kun would definitely come and hopefully they'd be alone for a while. She found it strange that the last Uchiha would willingly be friends with the class clown…huh, maybe the boys were training together or something and they forgot the time—ahh Sasuke-kun all sweaty due to training…now there's a _nice_ mental image, she thought.

Meanwhile Sasuke was in the hospital intending to do something very strange for a member of the Uchiha clan. In fact, the thought would never have crossed his mind if he hadn't had a very heated discussion with Naruto on the pier that had become their meeting spot.

Did he still want to kill Itachi?

Along with the people who helped him kill the entire clan, that was a resounding _yes_. He didn't know who they were, but there was no way that one person no mater how talented, could have killed them all. Kochō was right about that and he was insanely glad that she was part of the team, along with Naruto. Sakura annoyed him sometimes more than Naruto did, except when Naruto decided that Sasuke needed to lighten up and would continually pester him. This was the reason Sasuke decided to join Kochō and Ino in their effort to, _"get rid of the neon orange jumpsuit disaster"_, but despite their efforts that suit was just too damn resilient.

Something good came from him forming bonds. At least, he did not feel that all-consuming anger when his brother's name was mentioned. It had certainly changed his perspective a lot and it was all because he let two people in. They had become family to him, so now he had three goals in his life: become strong enough to kill Itachi, protect his remaining family, Naruto and Kochō, and restore the Uchiha clan, not necessarily in this order. Protecting came first, after all, he could not avenge his clan on his own so they'd have to help each other to achieve their goals in life. Naruto and Kochō already chose their fields; seals and Ninjutsu in Naruto's case, along with surpassing all of the previous Hokages. Sasuke always smirked at that thought. After all, Naruto was both crazy and determined enough to pull it off. He had already created his own jutsu and, no, he didn't mean the _Orioke no Jutsu_.

Kochō chose to specialize in poisons, barriers, and her butterfly blades. She loved diversity, that girl. Though it could be interesting or nasty depending on what might happen after, to see her being blindsided by Naruto, but that will probably happened much, much later. Hopefully Sasuke could be _far, far away_ if it turned mushy.

"Uchiha-san?" Sasuke looked up from his musings at the nurse addressing him.

"Tsubaki-san will be seeing you now."

And so he was in the hospital arranging with a kunoichi named Tsubaki, his training time table in medical jutsu.

Naruto was currently sitting by the table eating breakfast with the Shunran family.

"So," started Masaru, while shooting a warning look at his daughter who was currently trying to sneak some more chocolate sweets made to her plate. "Kids, big day today eh?"

"Yep, Masaru-ojisan, we got Hatake Kakashi as a sensei, but I heard plenty from Genma-sensei about him and he is always late. And Kochō-chan found out from previous teams that Kakashi-sensei uses something called bell test and…" Naruto started to talk excitedly to Kochō's father. Buffy was perfectly happy to let her blond loudmouth of a friend talk, she turned to her mom.

"Yeah, which reminds me kaa-san, can we get some food to go so we can share with Sasuke and Sakura?" she asked thinking that it would be good if they ate something before the exercise. Plus Kakashi had very good hearing. Besides his sense of smell it would be of the bad if their stomachs expressed their displeasure, as they did in the Anime. Speaking of the canon, Buffy thought in amusement, Kakashi wanted teamwork, huh? Well, he just might get that in spades. The only odd angle out they could not count on was Sakura. But Naruto pointed out to Sasuke that if he asked her she'd do just about anything. So it was decided that Sakura would be handled by Sasuke; much to his annoyance and Naruto's amusement, judging by the foxy grin he was sporting at the time.

Koyuki glanced at the men around the table who were engrossed in conversation. Well, her husband was. Naruto just used his speed and clones to take chocolate cookies without her husband noticing. She knew where some of those cookies would end up in the end, in her child's hands. Kochō had a bit of sweet tooth, at least where chocolate or cake was concerned. It was very sweet of Naruto to share like that.

Thinking over her daughter's question some more she encountered a snag. She remembered Mebuki moaning about her daughter's dieting habits.

"Sure honey, but what does Sakura like? I mean, I heard from Mebuki-san that her daughter is dieting again."

Kochō looked surprised at that.

"Uhh…some apples and bread for Sakura I guess. Oh, and tomatoes for Sasuke! He is absolutely crazy about them. Kinda like how Ruto-chan is about his ramen and the colour orange." She grumbled the last part. After all that time being Naruto's friend, she still hadn't found a way to get rid of that horrible colour. And it was not for the lack of trying. She swore the thing had a life of its own and it was somehow _mocking_ her.

"Still failing to make that boy dress in something different, huh?" her mother remarked with an amused glint in her eye.

"100%. But I have others on my side."

And she did. She had already roped Anko, her usual partner in crime of late, and Ino, who was there from the start, and even Shikamaru, who had started to think about it but thought it too troublesome. Eventually Sasuke joined the effort as well.

Koyuki chuckled at her daughter's grumbles about boys with no fashion sense. Really, Kochō was so adorable when she started to rave about Naruto's orange obsession.

And so the small family started to head out.

"You're LATE!"

They were greeted by Sakura's screech. Buffy grumbled about a banshee while she covered her ears, Naruto just shrugged it off.

"Here you go Sakura," he put a piece of bread and an apple in the pink haired girls' hands who started to protest loudly only to get a loud protest back from her stomach. Blushing, she glared at the grinning Naruto.

"Seriously Sakura, you should eat that or you'll end up unconscious or something." Then his grin winded around his entire face while his eyes become half moons. Meanwhile, Buffy took an unconscious step back, since she thought that this could either be hilarious or…nah, scratch that, she knew this was going to be hilarious. "Just think, the _tragedy_ of you missing duck butt's arrival because you passed out from hunger."

Sakura swung at Naruto only to have the still-grinning boy duck under her fist and come up behind her. "Don't talk about Sasuke-kun like that Naruto-baka!"

Still grinning, Naruto ruffled her pink mane while Sakura angrily swung again, and missed, the spiky-haired blond, much to her growing frustration.

"Awww, does little Sakura-chan have a crush on Mister Broody? Oh the shame! She is so thin she can barely stand. Eh, maybe you should be this team's designated bait? Damsel in distress suits you well," he cooed at the angry girl, similar to that of grown up when their kid had done something adorable.

Sakura saw red.

Seriously, just who does this idiot think he is degrading her like that and mocking her Sasuke-kun?

_Shannaro_! This was unforgivable!

"I'll show you barely standing you, you …" she growled.

"Hit a nerve did I, Sakura-chan?" He singsonged, collapsing to the ground in laugher, which allowed the pink-haired girl to catch up and brain him.

Huffing, she walked away from the blond who was sitting on the ground clutching the lump on his head. Picking up the bread and apple she proceeded to eat them with gusto and, seeing that the girl's appetite had returned, Buffy rummaged through her basket until she found two carefully wrapped bundles. Sakura saw her female team mate holding some more food out to her so, after some hesitation, extended her hand toward Kochō and accepted the onigri, which she then proceeded to eat as well.

Buffy watched her former friend, she _would_ eventually renew that friendship, she informed herself quietly, eat. She chanced a glance towards her blond companion, who flashed her smile and a thumbs up.

Make sure Sakura eats-Mission _Accomplished_!

Now just where was Sasuke? She knew that the boys met on their own yesterday, but what was said she hadn't a clue, since Naruto was unusually tight-lipped about the whole issue. He just said _'you'll see'_ then changed the subject. Well fine, she just hoped that Sasuke would show up before Kakashi, so that the Uchiha could eat something before the bell test started.

Finally, the lone figure of Sasuke Uchiha joined the three. Naruto just wordlessly passed his friend some food, which the quiet boy took with a small "hnn" and then proceeded to eat while Sakura fan-girled beside him.

And that was when Kakashi decided to make his appearance; arriving beforehand, he took time to observe the unsuspecting Genin. In fact, he took the Saindame's advice and checked on all four of his students.

Seeing Naruto train with Genma and Raidō came as slight surprise, to which Sarutobi had chuckled before explaining that the two Jonin took young Uzumaki in hand and taught him some things.

Sasuke apparently had decided to become a medic nin, something previously unheard of for the Uchiha, and all because the raven had, had a heated debate by the river with Minato's orphaned son, which they had witnessed.

Sakura's parents invited him to tea along with the Hokage, and then talked about their daughter.

Kochō's parents were more reserved, but they made it clear that they expected Kakashi to teach their daughter and Naruto well, or they would sick Anko and Yūgao on him. He shuddered at that thought.

And now it was time to see if they could pass the bell test.

"Morning, kiddos!" he greeted them waving cheerfully with his single eye closed in his trademark Kakashi style.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto jumped up along with Sakura who yelled "You're LAATE!"

At this, Kakashi just smiled some more and shrugged his shoulders lazily. Buffy held back a laugh knowing what kind of excuse was coming next.

"Maa, maa, a black cat crossed my path so I had no choice but to take the long way around."

Naruto stared at their sensei, then leaned toward his raven hired friend and hissed, "What kind a lame-assed excuse is that?"

Saskue's response was an enormous sweat-drop at the back of his head and a nod.

Kakashi clapped his hands once to get the Genin's attention. "So let's get started!" he declared. Then pulled an enormous alarm clock from somewhere, that Buffy really didn't want to know, and placed it on the trunk of the tree along with some lunch baskets.

"So, let me explain the rules. The timer," he gestured at the alarm clock, "is set to ring at noon," he pressed the button and the clock started ticking, "your assignment is to take these two bells from me," he held up two small silver bells on the red cord then fastened them to bottom of his flack jacket, "if you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch."

He then pointed at four wooden posts in the middle of the clearing. "You'll be tied to those posts and you'll have to watch as I eat my lunch in front of you."

"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said frowning. "Why are there only two bells?"

Kakashi smiled at her. "Well, this way two of you will end up tied to a post and ultimately fail the test."

"How are we supposed to win that blasted test then?" Naruto exploded. While he knew, thanks to Kochō and Sasuke digging for information on their sensei from the teams that failed, the thought of not being on the team with them, or even Sakura, did not sit well with him.

"You can't, at least that is the general idea of this test, to see which Genin are worthy of teaching." Kakashi answered.

"So, no matter what we do, only two of us will pass this test?" Sakura asked fearfully. She knew Sasuke-kun would pass, he was an elite after all, but Naruto-baka was no push over. She knew that Kochō was sometimes taught by the Cat ANBU and that _they_ were an elite shinobi.

Kakashi gave the girl a nod. "That's correct, or all four of you can fail. Either way, someone is going back to the academy."

"So, we only have to get the bells, right, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked with a grin. At the man's nod he turned back to the others.

"Nee, Kochō-chan, Sasuke, Sakura this will be fun!"

"Idiot! Didn't you hear sensei? Without a bell you go back to the Academy!" Sakura screeched and again attempted to hit him but just like before he dodged the punch which hit one of the posts instead, shattering it on impact.

"Hn."

Sasuke raised one black eyebrow, while a corner of his mouth lifted. That was one impressive punch. It could be useful for their team effort to get the bells. Then he frowned, remembering that he would have to ask his fangirl to team up with them.

"Ok kiddos, start." Saying that, Kakashi reached into his pocket and pulled out a very familiar, to Buffy, orange book and flipped it open to a random page.

"What are you doing Kakashi-sansei?" asked Sakura.

"I'm reading."

Naruto blinked and titled his head, "And why is that?"

"To see what happens at the end of the book, of course."

Meanwhile Sasuke ran through some hand signs, ending on the tiger seal, then took a big inhale,

"Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"

A big dragon-headed shaped fireball was bearing down on Kakashi, who just dodged it, and when the fire died out his Genin were nowhere to be seen.

What a nice distraction, _maybe_…

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei, I am going to fight you fair and square -ttebayo!" hollered Naruto pointing at him.

Then again maybe _not_, Kakashi sighed, as Naruto performed a cross sign.

"Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Kakashi's eye momentarily widened at the hundreds of orange-wearing shrimps surrounding him. Still, for a jonin and former ANBU captain, they didn't pose much of a problem. Using taijutsu and a couple of fire jutsus the numbers attacking him dropped considerably.

"Better watch out sensei, because I am going to get one of those bells dattebayo!" hollered one of the Naruto clones. Kakashi, spotting his target, used the Body-Flicker technique to come up behind Naruto in a crouch. Arranging his fingers in a Tiger seal,

"Konohagakure Hiden Taijutsu Ōgi: Sennen Goroshi!" he then thrust his hands forward, earning a loud squeal from Naruto, who turned into a puff of smoke.

"Kage bunshin, huh?" Kakashi muttered then looked around. He was alone.

Kochō had to shut Naruto up by covering his mouth to prevent him from exploding into very loud curses which would give away their position. Not that she blamed him. After all, he probably just received the memory of that very unfortunate clone which dispelled due to the One Thousand Years of Pain technique, if memory served her right and looking at the angry and embarrassment expression on Naruto's face, she'd say she was spot on.

"**What**. The. **Hell**. Sensei." Naruto hissed angrily, barely resisting rubbing his behind from the phantom memory. He is so unleashing a series of pranks on their sensei, for this stunt deserves nothing less -ttebayo.

"What's going on Sasuke-kun? I thought we'd be a team?" Sakura whined when she followed after her crush to Naruto's and Kochō's hidey-hole.

Naruto crossed his arms and sighed. "What are you talking about Sakura? The four of us _are_ a team." He gestured at himself, Kochō, Sasuke and Sakura.

Sakura frowned thinking. It was true, Konoha took pride in their shinobi's teamwork. She brightened when Sasuke-kun turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder, it was like electricity going up and down her arm.

"Its about team work, this test, Kakashi is pitting us against each other." Sasuke told the pinkette seriously.

Kochō, at that moment, decided to pipe in; after all, she didn't want Sakura distracted by the eye-candy Uchiha.

"That's right Sakura, all the teams before us failed because they, for one reason or another, could not work together."

"So we work together to get the bells and then what?" Sakura asked, turning to Sasuke. It was Naruto who answered.

"Then we break them in half, and we each keep half of the bell."

Plans made, the Genin sprung in to action.

Later, in the Hokage's office, Sarutobi was puffing on his pipe, "You are late, even by your standards, Kakashi."

"Sorry, Hokage-sama, I got…tied up." Kakashi smiled scratching the back of his head a bit. And this time, he thought, that statement wasn't far from the truth.

Hiruzen chuckled and Kakashi sighed. He just knew, _knew_, that somehow the Hokage, _knew_ exactly what happened during the bell test.

"Certainly, Kakashi-kun, certainly. Maa, have a seat. You look like you need it. So how did it go?"

Another chuckle.

Oh yes, Hokage definitely knew what had happened. In fact, Kakashi would not be surprised if the Hokage had, in fact, predicted it.

But Kakashi was proud of his brats. Goodness, they were _his_ Genin now, weren't they?

"Lets start with Naruto, shall we? He is _not_ dead last." Kakashi stated, hissing the last part. He would be paying Mizuki a visit one of these days; they needed to have a nice little talk.

"He pretended to attack, only to use Kage Bunshin, hundreds of them actually, but they were really just a distraction. He has some astonishing stamina and chakra reserves. He is a Fūton and Katon user and has mastered nature manipulation as well. He also has some knowledge of seals, since he…ahh, managed to trap me in some sort of paralysing seal. His Taijutsu is efficient and unpredictable; he managed to cut me one time with his Wind Chakra."

Sarutobi whistled. "Incredible, so being around Kochō-chan really did have a good influence on him. Good." Then he chuckled at the memory of then seven year old that pouted, glared, and blackmailed two of his jonin in to helping Naruto.

"He can also plan on the fly. I don't know how much of the planning he did of the plan that tied me down, because he, Kochō and Sasuke work well in together. Though my cute little Genin did explain how they worked together after the test," he finished, looking at the Hokage who puffed out clouds of smoke.

"Yes, well, Naruto-kun did paint the ANBU headquarters orange when he was six."

The Hokage then gave the silver-haired jonin a gimlet-stare. "Tenzo is still annoyed at you for leading him to the building, by the way. How about Haruno Sakura? I was worried since Sasuke-kun knows the other two, that she'd be excluded."

"Sakura, at the moment, thinks only of impressing Sasuke. _However_, her control over chakra is better than any of the others. She'll have to work on her chakra reserves. Her book knowledge is also the greatest of the three."

Taking a breath he continued, "To make sure she keeps up I'll work with her to increase her chakra reserves, so I'd like to ask permission to borrow two special jonin."

Puff of smoke, "And whom do you have in mind?"

"Inuzuka Tsume and Miterashi Anko. Neither of those two have Genin teams, but Anko owes me a favour, and Tsume, well, she always wants to help _me_."

"Permission granted. Still, those two will work the poor girl to the ground. I assume you'll focus in perfecting their teamwork?"

"Naturally. Now Sasuke hasn't awoken his Sharingan _yet_, but he knows a variety of the Katon-jutsu. He also has an affinity for Raiton, so I'll help him out with that. He is an expert at using wire-manipulation with Katon and fūma shuriken. He can also combine and collaborate with Naruto's Fūton and Kochō's Suiton jutsu. And that combo is very destructive. They level and scorched rocks and trees that were in their path."

"Hmm, Naruto-kun straightened Sasuke-kun's fire with wind so that Kochō-chan's water didn't extinguish the fire."

"Yes, though Kochō can use water and fire in a way that is more in control than Nidaime Hokage Suiton ability. It's like pure element manipulation, with chakra as a conductor. So I am sure her water wouldn't extinguish Sasuke's flames if Kochō didn't want it to, I'll have to test that though."

"Now that is a surprise. I knew from Neko's reports that her niece had amazing control of the two element affinities that she has. So much that Neko entrusted Kochō-chan with a pair of Butterfly Swords made from chakra - conductive metal."

"Yes, and she is very proficient with them as well. I'd say she is a budding kenjutsu specialist, but she also knows poisons, which implies some medical training,"

The Hokage gave a short nod, "Yes, and genjutsu as well. Before Kurenai-chan took on her Genin team, she and Anko had a hand in teaching her. It gave Kuranai some much-needed confidence in taking on Team 8 since her fallout with Kurama Yakumo."

He frowned remembering the girl, not much older than these year Rookie teams, who was sinking deeper and deeper into paranoia, resentment and fear.

"Well then, I suppose I'll work on her sword technique some more with her, as well as genjutsu. Did you know that she could throw chakra ropes to tie up a person as well as encase said person's foot in a barrier? While the barrier is still weak, it did distract me long enough for the boys to move in and for Sakura to grab the bells." Kakashi then chuckled. "They passed the moment they started to act as a team, but I was curious as to what their answer to the test would be."

Sarutobi raised an inquiring eyebrow at the chuckling jonin.

"Naruto said that they all passed," he chuckled some more at the memory of the grinning blond teen, "and then he took the bells hostage. His words, Hokage-sama, either I pass them as a team, or he'd cut both bells in half and they'd share, and still pass, since all of them would be holding bells. Can't say something like that ever happened at any of my other bell tests. Though it is within the rules, I never said bells have to be in one piece."

"Yes, it is certainly novel. I wonder which of the brats came up with this ploy, probably Naruto; it is like one of his pranks."

The next day, four newly-minted Team Seven Genin stood before the Hokage and Iruka, waiting for their first D-rank mission.

Iruka shuffled some papers, "We have cleaning the Inuzuka kennels, weeding Yamanaka's garden, fixing the fence at the Nara compound, sweeping the floors, also at the Nara compound, and Tora the daimyō wife's cat escaped again."

"We'll take," Kakashi paused for dramatic effect, "the catch the cat mission."

Later in the ally.

"Now, my cute little Genin, this might seem easy, but this is the most dangerous D rank in the whole village." Kakashi said watching his disbelieving students. Sasuke looked sceptical, Sakura was watching Sasuke, and he _really needed_ to work on that girl, Kochō looked apprehensive, and only Naruto looked disbelieving.

"Catching a cat?" Sasuke asked.

"I must advise you, my very young and naïve students, that you do not underestimate this cat. Catching Tora is a nightmare; you must use all your skills to succeed."

Sakura tapped her chin with her index finger, thinking "So we are to use anything we can against it, except lethal means, because that the Fire daimyō' would get mad for killing his wife's pet?"

Kakashi nodded. "_Exactly_. That is why this mission is so difficult. You cannot kill the cat. And believe me, at the end you will want to kill it in most painful way possible."

"Target in range," Naruto whispered into his mike.

"I'll try to use the wire-manipulation technique this time." Sasuke relayed. Infusing the wire with his chakra he watched the metal tendrils creep towards the fat brown cat.

"Way to go Sasuke-kun!"

The cat twitched. Then jumped up and up before turning back around to look at the annoyed and flustered Genin below. Then, turning smugly away with her tail positioned high, Tora jumped down on the other side.

"SAKURA!"

"Sorry Sasuke-kun, but that was just _SO_ cool."

"Never mind that now" he says, waving her of. He then touched the mike "Naruto. Kochō. It's headed back your way."

"We see it," came the reply from Kochō.

"We do?"

"Naruto."

"Just kidding."

"Sorry didn't mean to snap, but this is just taking _soo_ long."

"Yeah, hours."

"Hey look, Tora is busy with watching that sparrow."

"Let's save the sparrow."

Naruto yelped as Tora's razor-sharp claws burrowed into his skin yet again. Granted, he was a fast healer, but this was ridiculous.

"This is not a D rank mission," he said.

"It should be at least C-rank," Sasuke agreed.

"Do we have a box?" he asked. Sasuke shook his head.

"No but I have a good idea."

"I'll _flambé_ that cat," growled Kochō while inspecting her ripped shirt, where Tora had caught it with his claws.

"Get in line Kochō," grumbled Sasuke, rubbing his ear where Tora had managed to bite him while clawing at his face.

"I'll flambé it, you electrocute it."

"Forget Kyuubi, this cat is the real demon of Konoha," muttered Naruto. Kochō slanted an eyebrow at the blond with a sly glance.

"Yeah, furball needs a better name," a pair of shocked cobalt eyes met hers. Kochō just shrugged, "You are Naruto, not the fox, I know it, you know it, anyone that thinks different is a _troublesome_ idiot."

Groaning she slapped a palm to her forehead.

"I think you spend too much time with Shika -ttebayoo."

"Shut up," muttered Kochō, smiling slightly, glad that he finally figured out that she knew about Mr. Tall, Red, Angry and Fury. Now they could talk about it, which gave her some opportunities.

"Thank you," muttered the aforementioned boy, and then said it a bit louder so that the other two would hear.

"I think we better pour some income together and get a cat carrier with reinforced seals."  
"Naruto, are there any paralyzing seals?" asked Sakura.

"What do you think I am using right now? Dattebayo!"

"Oh, so that's why it's so still."

"Goodness, what makes this cat so feral? By the way, we still did not confirm that we got the target."

"The daimyō's wife, Madam Shijimi smothers it," Kakashi said, making his students jump at his sudden appearance. "Good news, this is one of the fastest Tora-catching on record. Well done gaki's."

"Yay," came the subdued and tired response from the teens. Naruto narrowed his eyes at their teacher who was smiling. Not that easy going smile, but that _ha-ha_, you are doomed, smile.

"There is bad news there somewhere isn't there, ero-sensei?"

"Ero-sensei?"

"Orange book, Icha Icha, ring a bell?"

"Did you say something Naruto?"

"Not a thing," came the innocent reply. "So sensei, what's the bad news?"

"What makes you think there is one?"

"Karma is a bitch."

"Naruto-baka, don't curse. There are ladies present." Sakura chided angrily.

"Yeah, yeah."

"Well, as the only current active genin team to manage that speed, by the way thank you for that, it took a certain acorn-green man off my back. All Tora catching missions will be passed down to Team Seven."

"Shit."

"Sakura, there are ladies present." Sakura became red as a tomato. Honestly, thought Kochō, she was putting Hinata's blushes to shame.

"Naruto!"

Sakura got over it quickly though and went after Naruto, fists raised to hit the grinning blonde, who lifted the still paralyzed Tora as a shield.

"Ah, ah, ah Sakura. I have Tora and I am not afraid of using it."

"Just you wait Naruto-baka."

"Promises, promises."

"We are so getting that cat carrier." sighed Buffy watching Naruto and Sakura argue.

"Hnn."

Iruka was sitting at Ichiraku's ramen stand with Naruto, as he polished off his 10th bowl of ramen.

"So Naruto, heard about Tora. Well done. It took my team a whole day."

"Yeah, we are awesome, dattebayoo!" Naruto said proudly. "Kochō-chan will get a cat carrier, since we're being be stuck on Tora duty -ttebayoo."

**End chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Voting results:**

Sandaime Hokage dies: NO won the count, with suggestion that he would be crippled

Sasuke gets a snake hickey: This ended out TIED, so voting is still on for next 5 chapters.

Haku : YES to living, NO to the girl

_**Pop quiz question**_: What is the meaning of the word natsu, in English?

**Chapter 3**

The Sandaime Hokage was enjoying the paperwork for a change. Why, one might ask, had such a strange thing occurred? Well, he was reading reports on his newest Konoha Genin teams. It was always entertaining guessing which of the teams would be fed up with chores and demand a C-rank mission.

And the reports from the jonin senseis were something hilarious. Well, the footnotes were.

Like this one from Team 7 and Team 10. He could always count on his son and Kakashi to lighten the reports up with sarcastic remarks, and Maito Guy's were always…colourful, to say the least.

Suddenly sensing a presence, Sarutobi tensed. It was as if the air had shifted in the room. Looking up from his paperwork, he met the eyes of his former teammate, Shimmura Danzō.

"Ah, Danzō. What…?"

"Spare me the formalities, Hiruzen," came the irritated response from the heavily bandaged man.

Sarutobi leaned back and lit his pipe, observing his old teammate, his rival at one time. He knew well enough of Danzō's little pet project, and one of the only things holding Hiruzen back from acting was partly sentiment—the man had, at one point, been his adviser and dear friend. The other reason was insufficient data. He had no idea what numbers ROOT held and the fact was that Danzō held considerable political power with the Council.

"Well, something is irritating you, my friend." Though the Hokage might have an inkling what irritated the other man.

Nobody knew how, but at the heart of Danzō's home, the place that was more heavily guarded than the Fire Daimyō's palace, ROOT, in the underground maze-like halls where security gave another name to paranoia, somehow someone had managed to deliver various books on home crafts such as Making of Origami, knitting, sewing, bead work, crochet, etcetera, along with a note that said:

Dear Danzō,

I urge you to take up some other hobby other then tending to roots. Might I suggest knitting? It's better for your health. - Natsu

"So you have no idea who could have done it?"

Ahh, so that's what it was. Hiruzen had to admit, while he did not know who the culprit was, he certainly gave him props for doing something about Danzō's ROOT.

"Ahh, no, but whoever got in should be awarded."

Danzō struck the wooden floor with his walking stick in anger. "Whoever the man is, he is a threat to this village!"

"Whoever it is, is threatening ROOT. Do not give me that look, Danzō. I know perfectly well you haven't disbanded it."

Danzō leaned back at those words, his facial expression unreadable. "I don't know what you mean."

The Sandaime Hokage leaned back in his chair and met Danzō's eye sternly, forming a last warning look to his once friend. If Danzō wouldn't heed his advice this time, he'd have to take steps. He could not let simple sentimentality lead his choices any longer. It was a mistake he had made with Orochimaru, although at the time he had suspected that Orochimaru's work was hidden, like his suspicions of the man before him now. As with so many things surrounding ROOT, he had no proof.

It was high time for him to contact Jiraya and recall him back to Konoha. The sooner the better. Ah, he was getting too old for this shit. Though Oonoki was older than Hiruzen and he was still going strong. Perhaps he should think about someone other than Jiraya to be his successor. It would free Hiruzen's time considerably and he would be able to spend more time with his grandson and surrogate grandson.

But that was for later. Besides, he had just the person in mind for Godaime Hokage, at least until Naruto was ready to take the hat.

"A word of advice, old friend. ROOT belongs in the dark, not the light. Only a leaf can function as Fire's shadow properly, not the darkness of roots." Then the Hokage smiled at the back of the ROOT commander. "Maybe you should heed the mystery man's advice. He did send you books on knitting and other hobbies, did he not?"

Stiffening his posture, Danzō walked out. For the good of the village, he would find the man that was threatening Konoha. But he would have to accelerate his plans. It was a pity that ROOT was not at the full strength that it had been before he teamed up with Sanshōuo no Hanzō. That Akatsuki brat almost took him out and did take out most of his forces, so he'd had to postpone his plans in disposing of the Hokage until then.

But this time, yes, he had already contacted Orochimaru. Everything would go according to his plan. Soon his vision of Konoha would become a reality.

Naruto was walking towards the Academy. He still had time between his completed Capture Tora mission and the new one. It had only taken an hour to catch the cat this time. His team was getting better and better at cornering it, though this time Sasuke had had to heal the feline since both Kochō and Sasuke had went through with their threats of hitting it with both the Katon and Raiton. Granted, there was minimal power behind the jutsus, but at least they got a bit of payback. Even Sakura had not objected to the treatment.

Later, they would meet with Teams 8 and 10 at the training field to hang out; they sometimes played for a bit, or sparred, and in Shikamaru's case, slept or play shōgi with Shino. Sakura was usually attached to Sasuke—well, if she wasn't tired out by Anko and Kiba's kaa-chan. Kiba sometimes tried, and failed miserably, to pull a prank on him of all people. You did not mess with the King of Pranks -ttebayoo. Hinata was usually being weird. She really should go to the hospital and let some Iryō-nin give her a check up, since those fainting spells couldn't be healthy. Naruto sometimes sparred with Sasuke, Kiba, Ino or Kochō.

Sometimes they played group games and, funnily enough, every time that food was a reward Choji won.

Strategy games went to Shikamaru when he wasn't sleeping. If he was, Ino, Sasuke and Kochō pulled a win. Not to brag, but once he won and Shikamaru had played too, so Naruto had beaten the Nara once. He counted that as an achievement. However, the game that he won every time was hide and seek. It didn't matter if he was seeking. He found each and every one of them with his Saikuru Ekōrokēshon no jutsu that he had improved from Iruka's Ekōrokēshon no jutsu.

Anyway, he had time, so he decided to visit Iruka sensei. However, on his way toward the Academy, something made him turn around. A poor excuse for a disguise.

Naruto sighed, "Konohamaru, really, rocks are not square." When the last of Naruto's words rang out, a pink dust cloud appeared in place of the square 'rock'. When the smoke cleared out, three children struck various poses that were ruined by their coughing fits. "Udon, you *cough* used too much *cough* powder."

Then the boy turned toward Naruto. "I, Konohamoru, the village genius and future Hokage, have arrived!"

"I'm Udon, the one who loves mathematics and chemistry," the boy with huge glasses piped up. And lastly, the lone girl in the trio with orange hair in vertical pigtails said while attempting, and failing, some sort of seduction move.

"The one who possesses sex appeal, the sexiest kunoichi – Moegi."

"And together we are the Konohamoru corps!" they shouted together, making Naruto facepalm hard. But Konohamaru was already talking again.

"As expected of my rival to see through my perfect disguise!" And right now, Naruto really, really wanted to find that closet pervert, Ebisu. What the hell was he teaching the brat? Yeah, he was conveniently ignoring the fact that Konohamaru wasn't that much younger that him.

"Anyway, Boss, I wanted to introduce you to Mitokado Udon." The glasses-wearing boy gave a small bow, though Naruto remembered thinking once before that the brown haired boy looked like he might fall asleep at any moment.

"And this is Utatane Moegi." The girl also bowed, and her two pigtails gave a wave of their own, kind of like bunny ears. And why were all three wearing goggles? Naruto had ditched his after a while since he looked kind of weird when he finally received his hitai-ate. The only reason he had even worn the goggles for so long was because they had been a gift from an Inu-masked ANBU, who had appeared a lot when he was little.

Naruto wondered briefly about what had happened to that ANBU.

"Eh, Naruto-nii, can you play ninja with us?" Konohamaru asked eagerly, jumping up and down in his excitement and stomping on the end of his way-too-long blue scarf.

"Ne, ne, Boss is it true that you painted the Hokage Mountain without anyone noticing until it was done?" At Naruto's answer that yes, he had, the bespectacled boy looked more awake than he had before. "That is so amazing! You must be a really good tactician and stealth-type ninja, Naruto nii-san."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Heh, thanks, er, Udon." Then he turned to the still-hopeful Konohamaru. "Listen, as much as I want to play ninja with you, I'm on the way to see Iruka sensei…"

"You were searching for me, Naruto?" The voice came from behind, startling the three children who, at the sight of Academy instructor, tried to pretend that they were not there.

"I must say, what a pleasant surprise, and convenient too since I have something to give you. Wait a moment. It's in my office." Iruka retreated, back the way he had come from.

But before he disappeared completely, he began, "Oh and Konohomaru-kun, Moegi-chan, Udon-kun," – suddenly, he used his big-head jutsu on the three students, who frozen up, shuddering. "back to class. Now."

They were so fast that only the silhouettes of the three students lingered like a mirage or afterimage, making Naruto chuckle inside.

Kochō, meanwhile, was searching for someone, to nip a problem in the bud before it got out of hand. Well, _more_ out of hand, considering the hints she had gotten from Anko regarding Kurenai, during their 'lets torture Buffy until she drops dead' time. It had made Kochō conclude that this filler character existed, but she was a bit iffy on the time line.

Now she only had to find _that_ person so she could achieve it. She knew that in the anime, Naruto had found her while he was doing some solo training, sometime after Sasuke went to Orochimaru. She'd have to figure out how to prevent Sasuke from leaving. Kochō didn't know if she could prevent Orochimaru from sinking his fangs into the Uchiha, but hopefully giving him firmer bonds and Naruto giving Sasuke the talk that would taper Sasuke's revenge into justice, would be enough.

Heh, who would have thought that Manga Naruto had been right, in his wondering 'if I had approached Sasuke, would things be different?' It also helped that the boys sort of became friends before the massacre, and that Naruto didn't let Sasuke descend into his 'vengeance FTV' kick.

But only time would tell if that would be proven true or false.

Suddenly, Kochō heard movement and soon came upon a scene. While she hadn't been expecting this to happen, it certainly helped in doing what she had set out to do.

An ANBU, holding an unconscious girl. Now to get the girl from said ANBU.

That was surprisingly easy. Way too easy, thought Kochō, while she made sure that the drug-infused sleeping girl was sleeping comfortably after having gotten her away from her ANBU guard. Maybe the guard was half asleep or sick, but that was one pathetic ANBU who let a Genin, even one such as she, put a genjutsu on him.

A slight twitch on the pale face had drawn Kochō's attention back to her newest project, only to see two walnut orbs watching her with suspicion.

"Hi, I'm Shunran Kochō." Then she extended her hand toward the still girl. "Want to hang out? Or if you want to, you can return to that ANBU guard who was holding you like a sack of rice."

The girl scooted back, glaring fearfully. "W-what do you want?"

"To have fun. You do know what fun is, don't you?"

"…."

Sighing, Kochō pulled the girl to her feet. "So, am I going to learn your name any time soon?"

"…"

"Fine then." She tapped her chin for a bit, making a show of thinking. She knew the girl's name, but maybe having an alias would help her out. A fresh start as it were.

The girl just watched her companion strangely. Well, at least she wasn't looking at her with suspicion. "I know, I'll call you Asuka, because you are like a little bird that just escaped from a cage, and are flying now."

"Asuka?" the newly-named 'Asuka' murmured.

"Come on." Kochō pulled at the now-named girl's hand while the girl had a small smile on her face. Maybe this wasn't some plot from Yūhi Kurenai and the Sandaime Hokage.

Maybe she had made a friend. She had never had those. Kurenai was never that, she thought, and she had abandoned her, left her to die by that plot made by the Hokage that killed her parents. And her clan had never had any other children but her.

Teams 7, 8 and 10 plus Kochō's new friend were assembled at their usual spotion the meadow, surrounded by trees, but with the Hokage tower visible.

Kochō stood up. "Everyone, this is Asuka." Said girl was holding on to Kochō's sleeve, watching the other teens with apprehension. She had never been in the vicinity of her peers, so Asuka was a little nervous. She practically jumped when a spiky blonde boy suddenly landed by Kochō's side.

"Ah! Naruto, this is Asuka. I found her with the ones you play hide and seek with." She hinted at Naruto's penchant for being chased by the ANBU which, come to think of it, hadn't happened for a while.

Well, with training there was no time for pulling pranks, and so Konoha was prank-free. Unless someone pissed Naruto off enough, of course, then all bets were off. It made some Chunin, and even Jonin, jumpy.

At the rising paranoia from the girl at the mention of ANBU, Naruto just hugged the surprised girl, who went from paranoid to embarrassmed. "Ahh, so you too have annoying ANBU tailing you. I know your pain." She wondered, 'Is this boy like me?'

"Okay, Asuka, let me introduce everyone to you." She patted Naruto on the head, making him glare at her. "This is Uzumaki Naruto, the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha, indisputable King of Pranks who has made the ANBU his personal playthings."

"And future Hokage! Don't forget that, Kochō-chan, -ttebayoo!"

"And future Hokage." Asuka couldn't help it, she smiled at the orange-clad boy and almost laughed when Kochō hissed in her ear, "It's a good thing for him that fashion sense is not a job requirement."

Then her friend waved a pale dark-eyed, raven-haired boy over. "This is Uchiha Sasuke. He doesn't say much except the occasional 'hn'." Said raven-haired boy was flipping her off, making Asukas eyes widen while she looked at Kochō to see if she was offended by the gesture. She wasn't, and what's more Kochō reached out and patted his raven spikes, just like she had done with the blond before. "You know its twue, Sasuke-kun," she baby-talked to the boy, who swatted her hand away. His lips twitched into a minute smile, which she would have missed if she had blinked, but what was impossible to miss, however, was the girl with pink hair glaring at Kochō.

Resisting the urge to return the glare at the pinkette for Kochō's sake, she listened as she introduced them.

"This is Haruno Sakura. She was the top kunoichi this graduation, and she likes ducky-butt." The last part was whispered for Asukas' ears only.

Back by the trees, away from the others, Team 10 was watching the scene. Ino was watching the interactions with interest. The body language of the brown-haired girl by Kochō's side wasn't lost on her; she didn't miss the flashes of distrust in those walnut eyes, but also hope, nor did she miss the look Kochō sent her. She knew that look—Kochō had had it when she'd said that Ino, Shikamaru and Choji should meet Naruto. She'd had the exact same expression when she'd dragged Sasuke out of his house with Naruto days after the massacre. It was the same look she was sporting now, that said, 'here is someone who needs special therapy, Ino-Kochō-Shika-Cho style.

A muttered "troublesome" was heard from her left. Apparently that look wasn't lost on Shikamaru either, and knowing that lazy ass, he was already making plans to help the girl.

Oh, yeah, they'd managed to make Shikamaru more active. She should have introduced Naruto to him sooner. Goldie was truly a ray of sunshine, judging by how he had managed to motivate the Nara.

"Shikamaru."

Shikamaru frowned at his chubby friend. "Troublesome, but…" He hated mysteries. They always begged him to be solved, and it was just insufferable to leave them be. They gnawed at him, ate at him in the corner of his mind, until he finally figured them out.

His first and, in a lot of ways, worst mystery appeared in the Academy. It was one he had yet to solve: Uzumaki Naruto. So at the Academy when Ino and Kochō dragged him to meet the blond boy, he hadn't protested much. After all, to solve a puzzle he had to be near said puzzle.

Nothing that troublesome blond did made any sense. First, he could not even do a Bunshin. Then he spawned Kage Bunshins like it was nobody's business. In class, Shikamaru had noted that Naruto had at least jōnin level chakra capacity, and when he'd heard Iruka and Mizuki arguing about whether he should pass or not, Shikamaru had thought that you'd have to be a total idiot not to let Naruto pass. With that level of chakra, he would actually find it easier to master higher level techniques. Who would turn down a student like that? But he hadn't passed; still, he'd appeared at orientation, with a headband.

Yeah, Naruto, the orange mystery that he wanted to follow.

Now this new mystery had appeared in the form of a cute girl. How troublesome.

"Yes, I trust Kochō and she is doing fine."

"Yeah, like I said, troublesome."

"You are going to help, Shikamaru." Ino cocked her head, making her pale blonde hair sway.

"Troublesome blond."

Team 10 jumped somewhat when an orange clad arm wrapped around Shikamaru shoulders while the other draped over Ino's.

"Ahh, ahh, Shika, don't be like that." Naruto waved with the hand that was holding Ino at Choji, who waved back, still munching on the ever-present bag of chips.

"And another troublesome blond appears," sighed Shikamaru, then he poked the laughing Naruto so that the blond let him out of his hold, leaving a grinning Naruto to trail behind him with Ino and Choji.

Still with his arm around his fellow blond, he turned his mirthful eyes to her.

"So, Ino-buta chan, how have you been?"

"Stop calling me that … fishcake!"

The two blonds started to poke fun at each other's names. Finally rejoining the others, Kochō introduced Asuka to the rest of them.

But something was bothering the sunglasses-wearing bug-user. Namely, that there was some weird thing tailing Naruto, which the boy ignored with a vengeance if the twitching eyebrow over his cobalt eyes were any indication. But once again, he could not tell him that. Why? Because Kiba had opened his big mouth.

"Er, Naruto, did you know that a rock is following you?" asked the boy with a white puppy on top of his head, who barked twice as if it was wondering the same thing. Ino watched the square rock for a while, then turned to Kochō when she made a strangled sound. She saw her friend duck behind Asuka, holding her hand over her mouth to repress her laughter.

Naruto rolled his eyes skyward and prayed for patience, hoping that Konahamaru would just go away. Didn't they have the Academy to attend? Oh, yeah, they had probably crept out after they'd run from Iruka that time. Damn, and he thought that if he ignored them they'd have gone back to school by now. Silly him.

"What is that?" asked 'Asuka,' while pointing at the two holes in the rock.

Sasuke looked over, "Maybe we should use it as target practice, throwing shuriken or kunai." He smirked and almost laughed when he saw the rock twitch.

Kiba give a toothy smile, catching on.

"Hey, Akamaru, let's try our new justsu on it too."

As soon as the last of Kiba's words rang out, there was purple puff of smoke, and Naruto palmed his face hard while muttering 'deja vu'.

"It is I, Konohamoru of the Konohamaru Corps!" the kids screamed while waving their arms around to ward off the two Genin that were threatening them. But no one could say that Sarutobi Konohamaru didn't recover quickly.

"How dare you mangle our entrance, you fleabag!" He pointed at Kiba angrily.

"What did you call me, you brat?" Kiba cracked his knuckles.

"Kiba, you shouldn't let children get to you," Shino stated. "Why? Because they were playing and they are still learning."

"There you go again with your weird logic, Shino."

"Kiba-kun, maybe you should f-forgive them. They are kids after all."

"Hinata is right."

"N-nnn, Naruto-k-kun…"

"…? Guys, you really, really should take Hinata-chan to the hospital -dattebayoo."

"Naruto, don't worry," intoned Shino "Why? Because Hinata will be fine. Just give her some time alone."

"If you say so. I'll put her in the shade since she is so red in the face…ah, she did it again -ttebayoo"

"Hnn, impressive since she was already unconscious. Didn't know that an already unconscious person could fall unconscious," muttered Sasuke, while running Shindan Yashi no Sukyan over Hinata.

"Let's play the Minefield game!" suggested Ino suddenly.

"I'll call the teams and keep the tally," said Shikamaru, ignoring the coughs of 'lazy bum'.

Kochō pulled the Konohamaru Corps along with Asuka to explain the game. "Shikamaru will put out obstacles while we will be divided into pairs. One of the pair is blindfolded while the other in the team guides his or her partner through the traps."

Shikamaru clapped his hands once, bringing attention to himself.

"Right, the teams are as follows: Team 1—Konohamaru and Hinata." Konahamaru pouted a bit since he was not paired with Naruto, but Hinata smiled at him timidly, so it was not a total loss. At least he was paired up with a cute, kind girl.

"Team 2—Moegi and Sakura."

"Team 3—Udon and Kiba." Kiba nodded. As long as he wasn't paired with that Konohamaru brat, now he just had to beat Naruto and whomever he would be paired with.

They played till the late afternoon, switching partners all the time until Shikamaru stopped the game.

"Alright, it's late and a lot of us are hungry, therefore I officially call the game over. Now Choji and Asuka had the fastest time going through the obstacles, so where are we going?"

"Barbecue!" came the immediate response from Choji. Then he looked at the brown haired girl beside him. "Ohh, sorry, you don't mind barbeque, right, Asuka?" He gave her a pleading look.

The slightly taken aback Asuka cleared her throat and shook her head.

"Yatta, barbecue, barbecue!"

"Alright, Choji, lead the way."

With eleven of them, they had to put three tables together so that all of them were seated together comfortably.

"Hey , Kochō, Sakura," began Ino. "It's been a while since you two slept over. Think you can slip away from your family tonight?"

"Well, I have to inform my parents first, but it shouldn't be a problem. Besides, Naruto, you're staying over with my parents tonight. They were asking about you." At the blond's nod, since he couldn't talk because he was stuffing his face so that he looked like a hamster with puffed up cheeks, Kochō turned toward the pinkette that was eating normally. Huh, looks like somebody's diet went down the drain. "How about you, Sakura?"

"Sure, I have nothing to do today. I'll just notify my parents about the sleepover."

Kochō and Ino exchanged a quick look. "Asuka, you should totally come too, and Hinata! We'll make it an all girl's night," Kochō said with a grin.

Hinata was poking her index fingers together nervously. "R-really?"

Ino nodded, smiling. "It's no problem. Mom and Dad love when others come for a visit. So what do you think, can you make it, Asuka, Hinata?"

"I- I'm sure Otōsama won't mind," Hinata said, but there was a slight frown on her face. Probably thinking about her father, Kochō thought. Speaking of family issues, Hinata wasn't the only one.

"How about you, Asuka? Will you be able to come?" she asked said girl.

"Yes," was Asukas' immediate reply.

Kochō raised an eyebrow at Ino. That was strong agreement, something that Asuka hadn't done before. It looked like the girl had some spirit.

Speaking of spirit, she owed a certain someone for an incident in the bathroom, so when she saw that he was immersed in conversation with Shikamaru and Shino, Kochō got an idea in her head. Acting on impulse, she gives a wink to the girls and a gesture for silence. Slipping quietly behind Naruto, right as he raised both his arms in large show of gesticulation, she started to tickle him.

Soon Naruto's whinnying laughter ran through the establishment, "K…hahahahhahah! Kochō," he managed through his laughing fit. Who would have thought he was ticklish, heh. She was so going to have fun with that. "Stop! Hahaha! "

"Nope, not happening." Now everyone around the table was openly laughing, even Sasuke and Asuka.

"S-hahahaha, Sasuke, hahaha, help!"

"Hnn, no. This is too entertaining to watch!"

"A-hahaha-asshole! Hahahaha, Shikamaru!"

"Too troublesome."

"Lazy bastard!"

"Hahahaha, help, Choji!"

"I cannot allow this food to go to waste, Naruto!"

"K-Kiba!"

"Alright, Akamaru," Kiba said, and dived in along with the puppy. "Oh no, Kochō is attacked by puppy power," said Ino, laughing as she watched Akamaru proceed to lick Kochō's face and Kiba fell over Naruto in his haste to get Kochō away from him.

"Oi, dog breath, you are heavy -ttebayoo."

"What did you call me?"

"Need to clean your ears, huh?"

And so another battle ensued.

Unknown to the Genin, the Hokage was aware of Kochō's tangle with the ANBU guard over the Kurama clan heiress, Yakumo. "Unkai-san, it appears your fears about your niece being kidnapped have proven unfounded."

"It appears so, Hokage-sama," answered the kimono-clad, brown-haired man who was watching through a crystal ball alongside the Hokage.

"Well then, I'm going to collect Yakumo-sama now."

"Wait," came the command from his Hokage, in a voice that brooked no argument, a commanding voice that left no choice but to obey.

A puff of smoke from the Hokage's ever-present pipe lifted into the air. "This was unexpected, but we should capitalize on it. Your niece is, perhaps for the first time, among her peers and she's stopped being paranoid about everything a while ago."

"That is true, Sandaime. Well, how should we proceed?" Kurama Unkai rubbed his chin in thought. Certainly, by the looks of it, Yakumo-sama hadn't displayed her infliction, whether physical or psychological.

"Those brats down there with her, perhaps they can do what we failed to do. Now I think having a private tutor was a mistake. She should enter the Academy, but all of the students in classes now are much younger than her, therefore…." There was a knock on the door, which opened when Sarutobi called for them to enter.

"…ah, I've been waiting for you."

"You called me, Chichiue?"

"Yes, Asuma, how would you feel about taking on another Genin?"

"Huh?"

As the night grew darker, the children started to break up into groups. Kochō and the rest of the girls, minus Moegi, who went home, went to the Yamanaka compound.

"Girls," Ino's father, Yamanaka Inoichi, greeted them with a smile. "It's been a while. And who are these two?"

"This is Hinata." Ino pointed at the Hyūga heiress, who give a polite bow as befitting of a daughter of Hyūga Hiashi. Of course, Inoichi knew which clan she belonged to and that she was the heiress of said clan. Crippling shyness aside, Hinata was a kind girl who would eventually get over her shyness. More interesting was the Kurama clan heiress that the Hokage had warned him about. Well, he would certainly do what the Hokage had asked and help the girl with her problem. After all, his clan did specialize in the mind.

"And this is Asuka," Ino finished her introduction.

"Well then." A woman's voice came from inside the house, and Ino's mother came up behind her husband. Unlike her husband, who had his long platinum hair in a high ponytail, her brown hair was wrapped tightly around her head, not a wisp out of place.

"Girls, come on in. Now, I already know Kochō-san and Sakura-san," – here she gave a polite nod of her head to the two girls – "since they've slept over before, but I am sure I'll get to know the two of you as well. Hinata-san, Asuka-san, I'm Yamanaka Wakana, pleased to meet you."

"All right Hokage-jiji, no more D-ranks. We did them about fifty-ttebayoo!"

The Hokage glanced at the list of available missions, then his eyes returned to the waiting Team 7.

"Naruto, you have less than two months of experience as a ninja, "Iruka said from his seat next to the Hokage. "There is a reason why new Genin get sent on D-rank missions."

The Hokage smiled. "So, Naruto, you want a real mission, and I assume your teammates feel the same?" At seeing the determined nods from the other Genin and the slight nod from Kakashi, the Hokage smiled. It looked like Team 7 was ready.

"Fine, then I will give you a C-Rank mission. It is an escort mission." He then turned to the Chunin at the door. "Send the client in." Said Chunin opened the adjacent door, waving someone in.

A grey haired, bespectacled man with a large beard stepped into the room wearing a patched-up brown sleeveless v-neck shirt, sizing them up with his dark eyes.

"I'm supposed to believe that you're ninja? You're just a bunch of brats."

"Hey, Ossan, watch who you're calling brats –ttebayoo!"

"You can't honestly expect me to be safe when my bodyguards are pint-sized." The man grouched, and then took the sake gourd to his lips to take a sip, only for a gust of wind to shatter the pottery.

"Care to say that again, Ossan?"

Kakashi grabbed Naruto's shoulder, restraining him. "Naruto, you can't attack the client like that, no matter how insulting and rude they are. The rest of you," – he looked at his other students, noting the glares aimed at the old man – "stand down."

Said client shook his sake drenched hand. "My name is Tazuna. I'm a master bride builder from Nami no Kuni and I need you to escort me back to my county, where I am building a bridge."

Kakashi nodded, and then he turned to Team 7. "Alright, my cute little Genin, we are going to meet at the gates early tomorrow, so pack for a long trip."

**End chapter**.

**Next**: Wave mission, Haku, Zabuza, Gato, Demon brothers

**Translation**:

Ekōrokēshon no jutsu – Echolocation jutsu

Saikuru Ekōrokēshon no jutsu – Cycle Echolocation jutsu

Shindan yashi no sukyan – Diagnostic palms scan


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**Kyuubi (or any of the tail demons really) talking**

_Sign language_

_Summon talking_

At dawn, Team Seven were at the front gates of Konoha, waiting by a check in/out booth, where two 'eternal' chūnins Hagane Kotetsu and Kamizuki Izumo were sitting and guarding the entrance to the village. They were always on duty, taking naps when no visitors came, or when no departing teams or merchants were checking out from Konoha.

Team Seven was kept waiting for about five minutes before Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yo, my little Genin."

"You…you are on time!" shouted Naruto, pointing at the grey-haired jōnin, "Who the hell are you and what did you do with our sensei?" The two chūnin in the booth snickered at a perplexed Hatake Kakashi.

"This is a mission, Naruto, so I am taking it seriously." The jōnin crossed his arms, and Sasuke raised his eyebrows. Deciding that he should add to this discussion, the dark haired team member of Team 7 added on to his blond teammate's comments.

"Still, sensei, it is surprising that you are on time, you are late to everything."

"Yeah, Kaka-sensei, you are late for anything and everything," piped in Kochō after Sasuke was done talking, grinning at their sensei. Sakura just nodded.

"Ha-ha, you, my little Genins, are such comedians," Kakashi grumbled, mock glaring at his students, and then sobering up as he switched to more serious matters.

"Show me your equipment."

Sakura rattled on, "Camping equipment, some extra kunai, food for a month, two if I ration."

"Good. Kochō, you're next."

"My camping gear, Butterfly blades, poisons and antidotes, bandages, some medical oils, explosive tags, food for a month, throwing starts, kunai and senbon needles." Then she paused for a bit before she added, with a slight blush dusting her cheeks, "And a sealing scroll that my aunt gave me, full of scrolls on all sorts of genjutsu." Not to mention novels, but she wasn't going to go into that. Mentally, she sighed. It looked as if that stigma she had imposed on herself in her previous life that of a blond ditz, remained deeply ingrained in her if she still felt such embarrassment at the fact that she liked to read now and then.

"Kochō-chan doesn't need to worry –ttebayo. I'll show you how to make basic sealing scrolls, so you'd be able to pack more."

"Really, thanks. It would be so much help with storing things."

"Sasuke."

"Hn, camping gear, kunai, ninja wire, Fūma shuriken, first aid kit, antidotes."

"Naruto, finish it."

"Camping stuff, instant ramen for three months, extra storage scrolls, my chakra blade, sealing equipment, I also packed extra kunai, dry food if we ran out, blankets, extra bandages and an extra sleeping bag."

"Ahh, the pleasure of having a seal user among us." Kakashi eye smiled.

"Now, as you have noticed, our client, who is late, is a bit shifty, so be extra alert. Do you remember the basic ANBU hand signs that I taught you?" At the four nods, he smiled again. "Good job. Now this will be our formation: Naruto, send some of your clones ahead of us. They are to dispel if they find anything. Sasuke, you are on medical support; Sakura, stay with Tazuna; Kochō, you will take point with Naruto; and I'll bring up the rear."

"Oh, there you are." Tazuna stumbled toward them, even drunker than when they'd last seen him. "Ready to go?"

"Maybe I should make clones to carry him." Naruto noted their client's wobbly steps. "He doesn't look like he can walk for more than couple of meters," he said, eyeing the bridge builder with a concerned frown on his face.

Kakashi eye smiled. "Naruto, the first lesson today is this…" There was a pause while Naruto looked up expectantly, before Kakashi suddenly smacked him on the head.

"Ouch!" Naruto clutched the bump on his crown of his head that was beginning to form where Kakashi had smacked him on the head.

"Don't insult the client in front of them. It looks bad. Now let's go, team, Tazuna-san."

"Wasn't insulting him," Naruto grumbled under his breath.

The day was bright and cloudless, a perfect day for travelling. They set out towards the east, taking a well-travelled road to the port city. From there they would continue along the coastline until they found a boat which would bring them to Nami. Normally they would make this trip in two days, maybe three, but Tazuna could not travel with ninja speed, so they had to walk at his pace.

It allowed the teens to do some sightseeing; they could afford it because the clones were combing the road and its surroundings for any trouble.

But something was clear as day they walked along: Team 7 didn't like their client.

Or trusted him.

At all.

Kakashi thought that he was hiding something – he didn't like it when clients didn't reveal every piece of information. Lots of things could go wrong when the client lied or omitted things. Good shinobi had died on missions like that.

Naruto didn't like Tazuna because he belittled his team – he wanted to prove that Team Seven could do any job laid out for them. Also, something didn't feel right about Tazuna himself. Rude drunken old man he might be, but there was something in his eyes, a hidden pain that Naruto picked up on. The man was terrified of something.

Sakura didn't like that he was drunk – she didn't like drunken people in general. They could get so violent. Well, more than usual. Just look at Anko-sensei. Not that she'd say that to the Snake Mistress' face. She had some survival instinct, thank you very much.

Sasuke didn't like that the client was shifty – he hated liars.

And Kochō, she didn't like the feeling that she was forgetting something. Wave mission; it rang a bell but she couldn't remember what had happened. Well, it had been a long time since she had watched the Anime… hopefully she would remember in time.

For the most part, Naruto was on point, occasionally switching with Kochō, then Sasuke, while Sakura mostly stayed around Tazuna, quizzing him about Nami, the bridge, his family, etc. Kakashi brought up the rear, face buried in his ever present Icha-Icha book.

When they stopped for the night, they set up camp a short distance off the road, concealed by bushes. Sasuke decided that he should go hunting, followed by Sakura. Sasuke thought for a moment, and then agreed to take her with him, much to Naruto and Kochō's surprise and Sakura's delight. Kochō and Naruto were setting up camp protection, and between the two of them they rigged a mini minefield of traps, with some really nasty surprises for would-be intruders. Kakashi prepared the camp-fire.

After setting up watch sequences the fire was dosed. Naruto had first watch, since after walking he still had energy to burn, followed by Sasuke, then Kochō, leaving Sakura with the easiest dawn watch.

Tazuna walked slower than the day before, still drowsy and sore from sleeping on the hard ground all night, but they made decent time.

On the third day they spotted the port city, but instead of entering they bypassed it, veering off onto the path that would lead them south.

Kochō kicked at a pebble. She was still not exactly clear on what was supposed to happen, but she had a vague memory of something to do with ice. At least that was something.

Taking a calming breath, she tried to calm her nerves. They hadn't encountered any trouble on the road so far and she was beginning to wonder if she had mixed something up. After all, there were probably things that happened off screen, right?

Everyday life and such, for example.

Though with how much she remembered…now why hadn't she written down her recollections? That was careless. What if she forgot everything, like she'd forgotten most of the English language? French was gone from her memory. Even her mother, Joyce's face was blurry. As for the others, she had utterly forgotten how they looked like.

Suddenly, Naruto's hand shot out a series of signals. _There is a puddle ahead, genjutsu, two chakra signatures about chūnin level._

"Now, my cute Genin," said Kakashi at that moment, casting a warning look at his students, "I understand that you never been out of Konoha or Hi no Kuni, therefore I am going to give you some pointers. If the water tastes funny, spit it out. If a vegetable has a bitter taste, do not swallow. An ideal situation would be to see if a herbivore animal will eat before you do."

They turned a corner on the path, and Naruto saw the small puddle in the middle.

"Dattebayoo," he muttered. That's stupid, he thought. Even if I didn't have sensing jutsu or clones running around, it hasn't rained in days. As they passed the puddle, nothing happened. Tazuna passed the puddle as well, and Kakashi was signalling them to stand down and let the attack happen. He signalled this while his nose was buried in his book, and when he stepped near it, it happened.

Two men materialized out of thin air. They wore dark clothing, with Kiri headbands that was crossed over. Kiri missing nin then, with half of their faces covered. They were armed with metal gauntlets which released chain shuriken, and they were attacking Kakashi in tandem, capturing him in their chains and shredding him to pieces.

And at that precise moment, Kochō remembered: Kiri, Demon Brothers, Zabuza, Haku…she felt like she should hit the tree with her head for forgetting that.

Sasuke put his hand into the tiger seal. "Katon: Hosenka no jutsu!" That quickly followed with Naruto's "Fūton: Sasu no Kaze!"

The two dodged the obvious attack, but had to stop when an invisible blade cut their chain in two.

"Kochō-chan stays with Sakura and Tazuna. Sasuke, let's get to business. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

As the steam from the collision of the Demon brothers' Water jutsu and the combo from Sasuke's Katon and Naruto's Futon justu cleared, there was Kakashi, standing by the tied missing nin, putting some sort of seal on them that only Naruto could figure out with only a glance. He activated it and then additionally bound them to the tree.

"Our patrol will find them. I suppose we'll probably receive a bounty for those two, but first," –he then turned to their captives– "just who was your target?"

"As if we'd tell you."

Kakashi sighed. "I knew you'd say that. I really didn't want to waste time with this, but…team, take Tazuna-san and start walking."

"So Gatō, of the Gatō Shipping Company?" Kakashi asked Tazuna when he caught up to them.

"W-what do you mean, Kakashi-san?" the bridge builder asked nervously.

Meanwhile, inside a certain someone, the Kyuubi no Kitsune leaned on his front paws, red slitted eyes regarding the red bars surrounding him.

"**Tch, this is boring**," he said in the silence of his prison. "**That human who blabbed to the brat about me, he is definitely on the list of people to eat. I could have tricked my jailer when he arrived here to set me free**."

Then the black lips lifted, showing rows of large, razor sharp teeth in a terrifying demon fox grin.

"**Then again, I am the nine tails Biju bigger, than any mansion. Even that idiot would not fall for, 'Human, come closer and peel off that piece of paper on the bars. No worries, it just ruins the décor of this room, nothing damaging to you at all.**'" He chuckled, his booming laugh echoing through the spacious, flooded room.

"**At least I can walk, sit or stand while being trapped in here, but I won't be here long now. The brat has used my chakra, and therefore the seal will weaken and let even more of my chakra in to the system…**"

Kochō listened when Tazuna talked about the bridge, his family, money problems, and most importantly, Gatō.

"You could have spoken to Hokage-sama. He is a fair and reasonable man. You could have worked out a deal," Kakashi said softly. He sympathized with the bridge builder, but he had lied about, well, everything.

"You don't understand. This bridge is our life line. It's the only thing Gatō is afraid of. If I finish, it will break his hold on Nami no Kuni and our trade with other countries can start again. I have to finish that bridge."

"While your motives were…somewhat noble, Tazuna-san, you lied about mission parameters. We should return to Konoha as we are not bound to help you anymore. However, I'll let my team decide."

"Please, I have a daughter and a grandson! If I die, they…"

"Don't," Sasuke warned. "Don't beg, you lying old drunk."

"But don't let that sway you." Tazuna just continued talking, forcing a smile, "Sure, my eight year old grandson Inari will cry for months wondering when I'll come home. And my daughter Tsunami…"

The Genin tuned him out at that point.

Sasuke looked at his fellow Genin. "I say we continue. We've come this far."

"When I became a shinobi, it was so I could protect precious people in my village and help people in general dattebayo."

Tazuna stared at the teens that were huddled together with a sweat drop on the side of his face. "Are they ignoring me?"

Kakashi looked from his book that he had pulled out from somewhere after Tazuna started to talk about how his daughter would denounce Konoha. "It appears so."

"Brats these days. No respect for their elders," grumbled the bridge builder.

"He is a filthy drunk," continued Sakura, "but I agree with the boys."

Kochō give a nod. "So it is decided: we will help you, Tazuna-san."

Kakashi sighed. "There you have it, Tazuna-san. We'll continue guarding you, but you will make amends with the Hokage, right, Tazuna-san?"

"Y-yes, Kakashi-san."

So Kakshi – sensei, what happened to the Demon brothers?" asked Naruto, who was curious since the two men's chakra had disappeared.

"Hm, I almost forgot." Kakashi pulled a scroll in black wrapping from his pocket, and Naruto's eyes widened.

"That is a stasis scroll –ttebayo!" he exclaimed.

"Correct. A scroll that all jōnin and ANBU carry with them. Its purpose is the transport of living beings."

"I know, I made one at home," Naruto said while pulling out a similar coloured scroll, only that his had orange stripes. He waved said scroll before Kakashi's frowning face.

"That is great, Naruto, but why would you need a stasis sealing scroll?" asked Sasuke.

"Yeah, Naruto-baka, it's not like you could have managed to catch and seal a missing nin," added Sakura, while Kochō was holding back laugher, mostly because she had been around when Naruto had managed to make that seal. The boy had been bouncing from wall to wall and proclaiming at the top of his lungs that now he would have…

"….it's for Ichiraku ramen –tteabayo!" he yelled loudly, with stars in his eyes. "Now I can just order bowls of ramen-chan at Ichiraku and seal it in, and when I take it out…mmmm, it's just as if I were at Ichiraku dattebayo!"

Later, the six were slowly making their way towards Tazuna's home in the same formation they had been in before attack of the Demon brothers.

They were approaching a wide curve in the road when Naruto launched a kunai into the bushes, surprising everyone in the group.

Kakashi moved towards the bushes to discover a trembling snow white bunny; he then glanced at Naruto, who signalled. _Enemy ahead. Jōnin level chakra_.

Kakashi then signalled all his students. _Let me engage first. Protect the client, use Manji no Jin. Play fool._

"Naruto-baka!" screamed Sakura. "Why did you scare the poor bunny?" She then proceeded to hug the animal. Naruto, meanwhile, made a great act of being sorry and apologizing profusely to the rabbit.

"Get down!" shouted Kakashi suddenly, hearing a whirling sound, but the others were already on it, with Kochō and Sasuke dragging Tazuna for cover.

A colossal sword sliced through the air in circles above them, before embedding itself into a nearby tree. Then in a blur of a shunshin a tall figure appeared, standing on the sword.

He was shirtless, wearing baggy grey pants with a cow-like print and elbow warmers. His face was covered by bandages and his Hitai-ate was tied above his forehead with the symbol of Kirigakure crossed out, proclaiming him a missing nin from Kiri.

"Momochi Zabuza, demon of the Hidden Mist," Kakashi said. "Looks like I really have to get serious."

"Sharingan no Kakashi, the copy nin," Zabuza replied. "No wonder the Demon Brothers were defeated. I'm here for the old man. Give him up and I will let you and your brats go, unharmed."

"I can't let you do that," replied Kakashi, lifting his forehead protector. "Protect Tazuna and stay out of this," he ordered the genin. Jump in when there is an opening, he signalled.

"Using your ace in the sleeve so soon? I am honoured. Let me do the same."

Kakashi had Zabuza pinned to a tree, taking a stance to deliver his next volley of attacks that would finish Zabuza off, when two senbon flew past Kakashi and pierced Zabuza's throat.

"What. The. Hell," muttered Sasuke. He knew that Kochō hadn't thrown her senbon. In fact, throughout the whole fight she hadn't used anything but kunai, which was a bit weird. He'd have to ask her what was going on with that. She had been unusually reserved in this fight.

All of them turned in the direction that the projectile flown from, only to see the slender figure of a Kiri hunter nin.

"The fight is over. Momochi Zabuza is dead," the hunter nin said, then used shunshin to appear beside the downed Zabuza. It was hard to see if the hunter-nin was male or female, as he was wearing clothes that hid his body shape. What could be seen was white skin and long, black hair that was tied up in a white bun, save for two bangs that framed the nin's masked face.

"I have hounded him for a very long time," he said, then kneeled by the body, pulling a limp arm around his shoulders. "Thank you for slowing him down and giving me the chance to kill him."

He then flashed through hand signs one-handed. "Farewell." Then he disappeared along with Zabuza in a small wave of water.

"Mizu Sunshun," Naruto muttered, trying to recall the hand signs that the hunter nin had used, only for Sasuke to lightly tap his shoulder and give him a slight nod. Ah, Sasuke knew the signs already, and he'd show them to Naruto later.

"Be on your guard," Kakashi said, while slightly swaying from chakra exertion.

"Don't worry Kakashi sensei." He heard Kochō sooth him while he succumbed to the exhaustion.

"Chakra exertion," Sasuke observed, "due to using the Sharingan." Luckily for him, his sharingan doesn't require that much chakra. "He'll be up in a day or two. I'll make some of those special soldier pills to speed up his recovery."

"It's good then that Zabuza is dead, at any rate," Sakura said, "Now we'll only have to worry about regular mercenaries that Gatō employs."

"Ah, no." Naruto scratched the back of his head while shooting a look at Kochō, who was watching the direction the hunter nin had disappeared in. So Kochō-chan was suspicious about this situation too.

"That hunter nin was a fake."

"What do you mean baka…?" Sakura trailed off, then remembered that hunter nins when killing their prey always burned the body after severing the head of the missing nin as proof. As she was thinking, Naruto created clones and then henged them into woodland animals, scattering them around in search of the two ninja.

"What do you mean Zabuza isn't dead?" Tazuna asked, worried.

Naruto shrugged. "His chakra was still there. It was weak but there. Don't worry, Ossan. Zabuza will be out of commission for days."

"Probably a week. Hey Naruto, help me with sensei, will you?"

"Sure, Sasuke."

Naruto made some more clones that helped to carry Kakashi. "Hey Boss," one clone said. "Next time pack a stretcher, will ya."

"That's right, Boss, Kakashi-sensei is heavy. We'll get hernia ttebayoo!"

"Oh huh, smartass, there is always at least one," grumbled the original Naruto.

"Tazuna-san." Tazuna turned toward the lavender-haired girl. "We need to reach your house as soon as possible."

"I'll lead you," Tazuna said, and true to his word, half an hour later they arrived at a house that was surrounded by a moat.

A pretty, dark-haired woman that gave Sasuke a bittersweet walk down memory lane as she bore a striking resemblance to Mikoto, his mother, rushed out of the house to meet them, or more accurately…

"Father! Are you alright?" she asked.

Tazuna nodded, then indicated Team 7. "I am thanks to these Konoha shinobi. This is my daughter, Tsunami."

Sakura smiled kindly at the woman. "Tsunami-san, is there a place we can rest? We also need to put our sensei to bed to rest."

Tsunami nodded. "Yes, please follow me, shinobi-san."

A few moments passed as Sasuke and Naruto's clones manoeuvred Kakashi into the guest room and fussed over him a little, not to mention Naruto took off his mask and drew a moustache on his face.

Kochō was very pleased that the mystery over Kakashi's face was solved, though he did wear two masks, one over the other. Not that that had stopped Naruto, and by that point Sakura and Sasuke were curious as well. Not to mention Sasuke had had to give him a pill that would restore their jōnin sensei's chakra.

The next day, Kakashi opened his eyes, feeling a slight weight on his chest. Taking a look, he saw his pink haired student taking a nap. Looking around, he noticed that all four of his students had decided to sleep with him, but luckily not all of them on him.

He then yawned to get their attention. It did, and they stirred, slowly getting up from their intertwined positions. He truly wished he had a camera. His cute genin were like a bunch of baby puppies all in one heap sleeping.

"He will come back," he said curtly to his students. At their nods of confirmation he continued, "Today we train. Zabuza's accomplice put him in a death-like state, so between that, chakra exhaustion and the wounds that he received fighting us, it will be over a week before he recovers."

"We should take out Gatō."

"This is not an assassination mission, Sasuke," Kakashi said sternly. He did not want any of his genin to make their first kill as assassins, but as defenders. "We should not overstep our mandate."

"We are not," Sasuke disagreed strongly, watching Kakashi. "Our mandate is to protect the bridge builder so that he can finish his bridge, and Gatō is a real threat to our mission."

Kakashi sighed. Sasuke was right. He looked at the others; Sakura looked nervous and a little bit afraid, Kochō's expression was unreadable. Well, he could see telltale signs of someone who could do the hard thing, but who would ultimately need extensive help in dealing with the aftermath. Naruto just looked determined, but he knew that his sensei's son wouldn't take the aftermath of killing someone as an assassin well. Minato had been the same. He could mow down an army without problems, but later the backlash of his conscience was never pretty.

"For now, I have to rest. We also need to eat, and then training begins. We'll discuss this further at some later date." Kakashi then turned to Sasuke. "You should not talk so lightly of killing someone."

"Yes, someone who is starving this country for his own greed," Sasuke muttered. He hated people who were like that, who exploited others for their own sick pleasures, or who killed men, women and children just to test themselves.

"We could hit him where it hurts the most," Naruto said, looking at his sensei and Sasuke. While the idea of killing someone did not appeal to him, he knew that someday they would all kill somebody. They were shinobi after all, the epitome of the phrase 'Jack of all trades'.

"His power base."

"Nah, men like him wouldn't keep money in one place though. Naruto, you could have sent henged clones to map out Gatō's hideouts in Nami."

"Already on it, Kakashi-sensei. A few are looking for that fake hunter-nin and Zabuza as well."

"This could very well work. Well, we'll focus on guarding a bridge in the meantime, which means you'll need to master water walking. Luckily you've already mastered tree walking." He looked at Sakura, who paled at the memory of how Anko had taught her that. "We can also work on some other things you want to work on."

Feeling immensely better, Kakashi made two shadow clones and left them with his students while the original went to guard Tazuna at the bridge, and read Icha Icha of course.

In the meantime, the clones divided students two by two, with Kochō and Naruto together while the other clone took Sasuke and Sakura to work on water walking.

Clone Kakashi turned to Kochō and Naruto. "So before we begin on water walking, is there anything you two would like to learn from me?"

"I like using my Chakura Tō blade," Naruto said. "I'd like to have better control of the blade reach though."

"You've been trying to enforce it with pure chakra?" Kakashi asked, and Naruto nodded. "You should add your nature affinity in the mix as well. That should do it. Anything else?"

"I would like to learn some other elemental justsu besides Fūton. Maybe Suiton and some Doton. I liked the one you used during the bell test, and Kenjutsu."

"Learning Kenjutsu will take time, even with your clone army; we'll leave that for after the mission. I'll show you the signs for some supplementary justu for Katon and Raiton as well."

"I know some Raiton and Katon. I was around Sasuke when he practiced -ttebayoo."

Kakashi chuckled. "Of course, I should have guessed that." He then turned to the girl standing by the blond. "Kochō, how about you?"

"Well, I would like to improve on my chakra ropes and barriers. Also, I have to practice infusing Yoruno Miyabi with fire."

"Yoruno Miyabi?" asked Kakashi with raised eyebrow. Kochō blushed.

"Kochō-Chan names her swords," Naruto answered for his still-blushing teammate.

Kakashi eye smiled. "That is a nice name for a blade."

"Thank you."

"So, Kochō, Naruto, let's start."

Meanwhile, in another clearing in the woods, another clone of Kakashi's was having a similar discussion with Sakura and Sasuke.

"Well," Sakura drawled out, "I'd like to find out if I have any elemental affinity, and since Kochō uses Butterfly blades, Naruto his short chakra sword and Sasuke-kun has Fūma-shuriken that he uses as blades as well, I'd like to learn to use some weapons too."

"Hm, well, I have some chakra paper. Here." He handed over a slip of white paper, which Sakura took, then looked at Kakashi expectantly. "Now, Sakura, channel some of your chakra through the paper."

Sakura did as instructed, and the paper hardened and fell to the ground in pieces.

"Well, it looks like you have an affinity for Earth. That's good, I know a couple of defensive earth jutsu. Also, since you've decided to specialize mostly in Taijutsu, you can enforce your hands and legs with Doton. It will increase your hitting power tenfold."

Sakura nodded happily. Kakashi regarded his student carefully, thinking of what weapons she could use to round out the team. Not counting jutsu, most of his Genin were close to mid-range fighters.

"Sakura, you seem to me the type who could use blunt weapons, so I suggest a spear or bamboo staff. Hmm, this will require some thought, but I think you should go with a spear. After all, you can use a spear as a staff. I'll show you where you can get the weapon and gave you some basic training."

He then turned to the silently waiting raven-haired boy. "What about you, Sasuke?"

"I like using my Fūma shuriken, but I'd like to improve my control of them as well. Is there any way to do it?"

"Well, chakra strings or wire, I'd say," Kakashi's second clone said. "Anything else you'd like to work on with me?"

"Yeah, do you know any Raiton justu that are long range and use little chakra? Oh and Katon Shunshin—I'd like to learn that as well. Some Suiton wouldn't hurt either."

"So, I gather that you haven't awakened your Sharingan yet."

"Hn," was the noncommittal reply, while Kakashi looked his student. Why would the Uchiha tried to hide that he had awakened his clan Kakkei genkai? Well he wouldn't push the issue just yet.

"Well, when you do, I'll show you Chidori."

"Hn."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yes, Sakura?"

"What is Chidori?"

"Glad you asked, Sakura." The Kakashi clone smiled his trademark smile. Sensing interest coming from the boy, he continued, hoping to goad the Uchiha.

"It is a jutsu I developed, and perfected when I received my Sharingan. It uses nature transformation and chakra manipulation…"

Nami no Kuni, the land of water where shinobi must learn to water walk. Kochō and Naruto watched how Kakashi's clone demonstrated, and dramatically to boot, when he stepped on the surface of the lake. Taking a few steps, he turned to his two students, making a grand gesture. "Well?"

"How do you do that –ttebayoo?"

"Channel the chakra to the soles of your feet as with tree walking, and go for it."

Naruto nodded excitedly while Kochō shot Kakashi a look that said, you are withholding something, aren't you, sensei? Kakashi just gave an eye smile to the suspicious girl.

Both teens stepped onto the shimmering wet surface, only to go underwater with a loud splash. Kakashi started to laugh at the sight. "Hehehe, this is why jōnin become sensei, the precious funny moments like these. Hehehehe!"

The teens surfaced with a loud gasps and coughing. "Kakashi-sensei!" came a yell from the blond one of the duo.

Kakashi chuckled at the glaring teenagers.

"Maa, I might have forgotten to mention that you need to constantly change the amount of chakra you use."

"Just you wait, sensei," growled Naruto through gritted teeth.

Kakashi decided while chuckling madly that this was something he would treasure to his dying breath: Sasuke and Sakura drenched and breathing heavily on the bank of the lake they were learning water walking on.

Sasuke looked like a drowned cat when soaked to the bone, and Sakura hadn't fared much better. Were those reeds in her messed up, soggy hair?

"Sensei?"

"Yes, Kochō-chan?"

"You are enjoying this far too much," she accused, while Naruto quietly seethed, which was never a good sign. Originally, Kakashi would have to take special precautions, or something very unpleasant would happen to him one of these days, but the duo had mastered water walking faster than he had anticipated. Well, it was water so for Kochō it had become like second nature to her. Hm, maybe he should see if she could negate an enemy Katon jutsu if it hit her. Naruto was walking on water on his third try, so now he was making sure that they had mastered the skill by…

"Throwing pebbles at my students?" he asked innocently, while throwing said pebbles at his wobbling students who were trying to stay on the water surface whilst dodging various objects being thrown at them from the hands of five more clones that Clone Kakashi had made.

"Why yes, I am enjoying this very much." Kakashi's clone chucked again, but stopped abruptly when he saw Naruto grab his head and fall backwards, almost in the water if Kochō hadn't grabbed him and started to walk toward dry land.

"What happened?" Kakashi's second clone asked worriedly.

"I think Naruto's clones dispelled."

"Some of them were hanged, right?" he asked Kochō, while picking up Naruto. At her nod, he shook his head.

"Wow, they certainly lasted a long time."

"Owwwww," Naruto whined, sitting on a couch in Tazuna's living room, waiting for others to come back. Well, the original Kakashi was with Tazuna and their Kakashi clone had dispelled, calling the other clone and letting the original know that he and Kochō-chan were done for today. Kochō-chan was with Tsunami-san in the kitchen, helping with making lunch.

"Memory backlash hurts like hell," he moaned, while rubbing his hand through his blonde spikes.

"You are going to die here, you know?" came a voice from behind him. Naruto turned to see a dark-haired kid around Konohamaru's age, perhaps younger, with a weird hat standing at the doorway.

"Don't think so, brat. I just got hit with way too much information all at once. Stupid clones picking fight in town in a bar, there is always one weirdo in every batch I make," he grumbled, then frowned when he noticed the kid's glare.

"No, you idiot! Gatō. Gatō is going to kill all of you."

"Whatever, brat," Naruto grumbled, looking cross. He was having a killer headache and this kid's whining didn't make the rhino stomping around in his head any better. "I'm going to ask your mom or Kochō-chan if either of them have any painkillers here."

He walked into the kitchen, spotting them at the stove discussing something. "Excuse me," he said. They turned, falling silent when they saw him. Yeah, okay, so he didn't have his beloved orange jumpsuit on, only a pair of black shorts and a red tee-shirt, but that didn't explain the two being all bug-eyed. He didn't look as good as he did in his jumpsuit, but he wasn't that bad looking in the clothes he had on now, right?

"Tsunami-san, Kochō-chan, do you have any painkiller medicine at hand? And are my clothes dry yet?"

Tsunami smiled at young ninja. "Of course, I have some pain soothing herbs at hand. Father has been using them quite frequently as of late," she said, going to the cabinet and retrieving two small paper envelopes. "And sorry about Inari, Naruto-kun, I just don't know what to do with him." She mumbled the last part, her head bowed in sorrow and helplessness for a moment. Then shaking her head to dispel her feelings, she poured the medicinal powder into small cup of water, which she handed to the waiting blond boy.

"Your clothes are still wet and are outside drying."

Naruto downed the pale liquid in one gulp. "Nah, I might just stay like this –ttebayoo, I'd just end up wet again. Kochō-chan, did you master water walking yet?"

"While Kakashi-sensei uses us as target practice? No not yet, but I'll rest for today."

"Man, I so wanted to train."

"There is no reason why you shouldn't; the house is by the water, after all."

"That's right!" he yelled excitedly, and then he immediately hopped over onto the water, only to sink in.

Tsunami and Kochō heard the splash and went outside to see Naruto pulling himself out of the ocean.

"You okay?" asked Kochō worriedly.

Naruto spat out some saltwater. "Gah, that taste is revolting. I'm okay –ttebayoo," he said to her before making another attempt at running and jumping onto the water, actually making couple of leaps before going under again.

"Are you sure this is possible?" Tsunami asked Kochō, not knowing much about what ninja did and how they did it.

The girl nodded. "Oh yeah, it's possible and he'll get it soon."

A "yo!" came from behind them as Tazuna and the original Kakashi returned.

"Kakashi-sensei! Look!" Naruto yelled while doing back flips on the water.

"Showy power house," Kochō muttered with a proud smile on her face.

Kakashi smiled. "Ah that is our Konoha's Number One Hyperactive, Knucklehead Ninja. Naruto, come off the water for the moment!"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei!" came from the boy. Meanwhile, Kakashi signalled to Kochō to wait behind, while Tazuna and his daughter went inside.

"Your clones dispelled."

"Yeah, gave me a headache too."

"Yeah, you passed out like a light, Naruto."

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry, Kochō-chan, didn't mean to worry you -ttebayoo."

"Naruto, did your clones find anything?"

"Not Zabuza and that fake hunter nin, but they did find out several hideouts that Gatō uses to stash money for the mercenaries."

Two days later, Naruto sat off to the side of the work area on the bridge, his clones working as sentries all over the building site.

"Do you sense anything suspicious, Naruto?" asked Kakashi, his nose in his ever-present book.

"No, Kakashi sensei, no clones have popped as of yet."

"Well then." Kakashi closed the book. "Since you have mastered the Doton and Raiton justu I showed you—your shadow clones' training is ridiculous, you know—it's time I taught you a new jutsu." Kakashi give an eye smile when he saw Naruto jump to his feet in one smooth motion, eagerly awaiting instructions.

"You are going to learn something a lot of genin don't get to learn, especially this early." With that, Kakashi put his hands in a ram seal and disappeared in a swirl of leaves and smoke, only to appear atop a crane a good distance away, before repeating the process and returning to Naruto in a matter of moments.

"And this is Shunshin no Jutsu," Kakashi said to the wide-eyed blonde, who looked like a kid in a candy store.

"Ano, Kakashi sansei, how did you do that?"

Kakashi couldn't resist; he messed up his student's hair with his hand. "Settle down. You have to channel chakra through your whole body enough to temporarily boost your speed. Your movements should be covered by a puff of smoke that usually follows this technique. When you get better at it you can make it flashier."

Eager to begin, Naruto put his hands into the ram seal. "Any advice before I do it?" he asked.

"Weelll," Kakashi drawled out," don't go too far, or to near."

Naruto nodded. "Okay then. Shunshin no jutsu!" His body was shrouded in a puff of smoke and he disappeared….only to reappear smashed on a bridge wall like some sort of weird fly on a widow.

Kakashi burst out laughing, while Naruto slowly slipped down the wall, twitching in pain. "Watch that, *snort* tunnel *giggle* vision, Naruto. Hahaha!"

Naruto rolled to his feet amidst laughter from the workers who had joined his sensei. Heck, even his clones had stopped working on the bridge to laugh at him.

"Ha-ha, laugh it up, stupid clones," he grumbled, then created two more clones. "Okay, you two, we will practice this move." Then he turned to the rest of Orange brigade. "And you lot, back to work on the bridge."

"Aye, aye, BOSS!" chorused the still-grinning Orange brigade, then they turned and started to work on the bridge again, since they'd decided that they would try to finish the bridge before Zabuza recovered, just in case they were unable to find him and his little helper.

"Yes, boss," the two clones chorused together, and then put their hand into the ram sign.

Come nightfall, Naruto was still at it. Kochō was watching him from her tree while he practiced Shunshin as well as Shuriken Kagebunshin no jutsu, in a way that was giving her pain just watching, as Naruto surrounded him with countless clones in a free-for-all battle.

Kochō slowly opened her eyes. Sometime during the night, she had fallen asleep. Blinking, she pulled down a jacket—wait, she didn't have a jacket. She also was on the tree branch. Ah, Naruto had gotten her down and covered her up when she'd dosed off. Though honestly that orange colour should have clued her in as to whose jacket it was.

Speaking of the blonde, he was passed out in the clearing. Hearing movement, she looked up to see a teenage girl with long black hair and dark eyes wearing a pink sleeveless yukata approaching amidst the trees with a basket in hand.

Wait, she thought, this is Haku and it's a he, maybe. He or she could have been deceiving Naruto at the time as well, or maybe not, but still….agh, never mind. She shook the thoughts away.

She watched as Haku slowly approached her orange-clad friend, setting the basket down and then slowly extending his hand, but just as the hand hovered above Naruto's throat, blue eyes snapped open and he grabbed the wrist in his line of vision with one hand and pulled, while using momentum to wrap his legs around the person's neck, pinning said person to the ground.

"Bastard clones," he grumbled sleepily. "Knew some sneaky ones had hidden from me again. Got me twice, would you, ttebayoo!" Then the information that he hadn't heard the telltale sound of a dispelling clone sank in, and he took a closer look.

"Gah, sorry!" he exclaimed when he saw a girl his age slowly turning blue in his chokehold. He quickly released her, but then Kochō was already coming at a run. She kneeled by the coughing dark-haired teen, whose colour had slowly started to return.

Kochō meanwhile pushed some healing chakra onto Haku's abused neck, soothing the pain away and covertly checking another curiosity of hers: namely, was Haku a boy or a girl? Suppressing a victorious giggle when she answered that mystery was hard though.

Haku meanwhile took note of both teen's appearance. The blond's muscles were tense, seemingly prepared to retaliate to an attack at a moment's notice, and the girl was no different. Haku knew that without any weapons and with the boy, who had bested Haku half-asleep, the fake hunter nin knew that the weight wouldn't go well.

"It's all right," Haku finally said. "You must have been quite on edge to attack me like that. My name is Haku, by the way."

Naruto smiled. "I am Uzumaki Naruto."

"And I am Shunran Kochō. Pleased to meet you, Haku-san. It's pretty early. Can I ask what you're doing so early in the morning?" She tilted her head, waiting for an answer.

Haku turned and pointed to the side. "I'm out here collecting herbs for someone close to me. He was injured not too long ago and I want to speed up his recovery."

"Well, then I'll help you –ttebyoo. Just tell me what I need to grab for you."

"I'll help too," Kochō said. "Is your friend sick or wounded?"

"Why do you want to know?" Haku asked cautiously, hiding the fact that he was slipping into defensive stance.

"It affects the herbs." Kochō didn't show that she had noticed the other slip into a hidden defensive stance. Naruto hadn't missed it either, judging by the slight narrowing of his eyes. "Some of them that you picked are good for treating stomach aches as well as wounds; on the other hand, you are leaving out some herbs that are for one thing or other and more effective at healing them."

"Oh," Haku said. "Um, my friend and I are not from this region." Then, coming to a decision, Haku continued, "He was wounded by a sharp object."

"Then you should use these." Kochō gestured to some slim, dark green leaves. "They are good for disinfecting wounds as well as speeding the healing process. You just crush them up and bind the wound with them. Then there are these." She then pointed to some small round white flowers. "These you throw into the boiled water for five minutes. The tea will bring down the fever as well as encourage replacement of blood loss."

Haku nodded, familiar with the last herb, though he hadn't know the last part. Then Haku turned to Naruto. "So, Naruto-san, what were you doing here and who were you fighting?"

"Haku is a good person," Kochō said while watching said person disappear trough the trees.

"Yeah, he is." Naruto nodded. "I am sending clones after him." At Kochō's surprised look, he elaborated.

"I think Haku is our fake hunter nin."

"Not that, how did you know that Haku is a he?"

Naruto shrugged. "I did hold Haku in a choke hold. I would have noticed if he was a she –ttebayoo."

"Ah."

**End Chapter**

To my dear readers, should Naruto name his Chakura Tō blade and what should that name be?

**Translation:**

Hi no Kuni-land of fire

Nami no Kuni- Land of Waves

Katon: Hosenka no jutsu- Fire release: Phoenix Sage Fire technique

Fūton: Sasu no Kaze- Wind release: Wind stab (mine)

Manji no Jin- The Manji Formation is a very basic formation that is used to protect a central point, to defend against multiple attacks coming from multiple locations.

Yoruno Miyabi means "Elegance of Night" name of Buffy's twin butterfly blades.

Chakura Tō- chakra blade made from special metal that absorbs chakra, Naruto's chakra blade has an appearance of small leaf shaped broad sword, with Uzumaki swirl.


	6. Chapter 5

**FanaticFanGirl**- Thank you.

**lucinagurrier** - Thanks!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Due to some bad luck that Gatō just could not figure out, his mercenaries kept disappearing, and what annoyed him even more was that the money he had in Wave Country was disappearing as well. Not that it put a dent in his business—he was, after all, a very wealthy man, but it just aggravated him.

Luckily, he had managed to contact a Kiri hunter nin before, so the bounty on Zabuza could pay expenses for the next batch of mercenaries and he wouldn't have to draw his money from other places all over the Elemental nations. Not to mention that girl would pay for hitting him.

So all in all, today would be a good day. He would let the ninja exhaust themselves, then Kiri would swoop in and take Zabuza and his little helper, and his recruits would take out Tazuna and those Konoha ninja.

Easy, Gatō thought, while his mouth stretched into a sleazy smile. He had been waiting for this moment. Well, the exploitation of the missing nin certainly was betrayal, but the dead didn't tell tales, did they? But that bitch had dared to manhandle him. HIM! That demanded a quick retribution after all. What would the world come to if some girl dared to harm him without payback?

So here he was, watching from a distance with some eighty or so men standing behind him at the end of the bridge. A bridge that was almost finished.

He twirled his walking stick and strode towards the quickly disappearing mist that led Gatō to see a very special view. Zabuza had been worth every ryō—that Gatō wouldn't pay him, of course. The bodies of the four Konoha Genin were lying on the ground, surrounded by their own blood, while a severely wounded and positively exhausted Zabuza was standing over the trembling bridge builder who was on his knees.

Eyes trailing around, he almost giggled with glee when he saw the masked figure, also wounded, sitting on the grounds.

"So I see you finally managed to do your job properly," he drawled, drawing Zabuza's attention to him, and by proxy the men that were standing behind him. Zabuza's posture stiffened, while the girl's slender frame positively radiated with fury.

"Yes," Zabuza let out an exhausted growl, "but the question is, what are you doing?"

"Hmm?" Gatō asked, feigning confusion in a very irritating manner. "Why, as it turns out, I am not going to pay you, Zabuza. You see," –Gatō waved his arm and four masked Kiri hunter nin appeared– "you are going to pay me, since these gentlemen are going to, well, do whatever hunter nin do to missing ones. Sorry about that."

"You are…turning on me," Zabuza said slowly, looking suddenly less bone weary. Why was he smiling?

"What an idiot," said Tazuna, his scared look shifting into one of stark amusement. That wasn't how this usually went down.

Little girl…Haku, meanwhile, put her hands into a seal and announced, "Kai!"

And with that simple word, the environment shifted: the blood and bodies disappeared; Haku's form shifted into that of a lavender-haired girl, who had the gall to grin at him; Zabuza shifted and turned into a silver-haired male with a mask that covered half of his face, with the Konoha headband covering his eye; and Tazuna turned into a boy clad in an orange jumpsuit. Gatō blinked. That was just surreal. He didn't even notice when the Kiri shinobi standing behind him, suddenly turned into Konoha ANBU, while the mercenaries behind him disappeared with loud pops and plumes of smoke.

Zabuza was sitting across from Kakashi, who was sitting under the window holding a open Icha Icha, and Naruto, who was nursing his crown while glaring daggers at the famous swordsman who was sporting a massive nose bleed, much to Team Seven and Haku's amusement, who himself was sporting a blush on his pale cheeks. Tazuna, however, was down, passed out right after he had been powered up by his nose bleed.

"Face it, you lost ttebayoo!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing at Zabuza, who growled and resisted the urge to hit the loud brat once again.

"You owe m, a jutsu!" Naruto continued gleefully.

"Sigh, fine, brat, fine. You drew blood from me, happy?" he grumbled. Zabuza couldn't believe that he had lost to this pipsqueak. What a dangerous technique that was.

"It is good thing you agreed to so quickly," said Kochō, glancing at the grinning Haku. Exposure to Naruto's Talk no Jutsu had done wonders for the two. "Otherwise you might have witnessed the upgraded version of that technique."

"There is more?"

Kochō snorted. Of course there was more.

"Yep, it's my Harem no jutsu, and I'm developing something that will work on women as well, but it's usually either a pony or a cake or roses -ttebayoo. So what you'll be? Some sword thing, water manipulation, what, what?"

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu."

"That's the water dragon that Kakashi sensei copied from you –ttebayoo, he can show me that."

"Sigh, fine then Suiton: Bakusui Shōha."

"You didn't use that in our fight, Zabuza?" asked Kakashi curiously, wondering why Zabuza hadn't used this one during the skirmish.

"One: Kakashi, I prefer direct attacks; two: it eats lots of chakra, but orange traffic cone here has large reserves."

"Hey don't diss the power of orange –ttebayo!"

"Tell you what, kid: you master this in say…a day…" Zabuza smiled evilly. There was no way the brat would be able to do it in a day. "And I'll teach you Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri."

"It is a bet –ttebayoo! And when I win you'll bow to the power of Orange."

"Yeah yeah, kid. Now the hand sign for this technique is Snake. As for the jutsu, whoever uses it spits out a great volume of water from their mouth, swallowing up and crushing the enemy with the advancing surge. The user can ride the waves, allowing them to move at high speeds and attack the enemy, who is now swept off their feet, without fear of counter-attacks. The amount of water created is proportional to the amount of chakra used, so you should produce enough water."

"Got it –ttebayoo!" And with that, Naruto ran out to train at his usual spot, determined to win that bet. Kochō watched him go with amusement, and then promptly yawned since she hadn't been sleeping well. Stupid cryptic dreams, and why oh why couldn't she dream of unicorns and flowers.? But hey, at least she didn't dream of apocalypses, vampires and demons. Just some ruins made from red and green stones and childish rhymes coming from somewhere. And an arch, made from some metal, but instead of Kanji it was written with writing more similar to Celtic runes along with Greek-style wall frescos. She never could remember the pictures or the words of the song, though she did know that those ruins were important, and that Naruto and Sasuke just had to be there. It was an urgent, do or die feeling that translated into her waking hours, but she really hadn't known where to find the ruined city.

Kakashi meanwhile, unknowing of Kochō's problems, looked on with an eye smile, but felt compelled to warn Zabuza of his knuckle-headed pupil's tendency to be unpredictable…and of course, his sheer luck with betting.

"Well, Zabuza, I think you just…"

"There is no way that brat can learn this in a day. He is not a Suiton user, that's your other brat…"

"Hey, don't call me brat," Kochō grumbled, but she didn't shy away from Zabuza's glare. "If I am a brat, you are an ecchi old man."

"I am not a perverted old man," grumbled Zabuza with a sweat drop.

"Really? Those bloody bandages say otherwise," was the glib reply from the purple-haired girl, who finally could get to drink that Green tea garnished with Jasmine petals, which had her name on it, not to mention that tea would chase the sleep away from her. Maybe she should brave something that would knock her into a dreamless sleep when they got home.

Zabuza growled something about smart ass kids from Konoha under his breath, and how it was no wonder that Kakashi had grey hair, and how glad he was that Haku didn't cause so much trouble. Haku smiled at that.

"Did you say something, Zabuza?" came from the corner where Kakashi was perched, reading his ever-present book. "Besides, you made a mistake betting with Naruto yet again, because if memory serves right, you also said that he would be unable to make you bleed."

"That only counts because I didn't specify that he had to wound me."

"If you say so."

"Kakashi-sensei, where are Sakura and Sasuke?" intervened Kochō, after she sipped at her cup. While normally Zabuza and Kakashi's word play and ribbing of each other would have been funny, she was way too sleepy. Honestly, the way both Kakashi and Zabuza kept on needling at each other reminded her of a couple of old ladies bickering. Heh, now that mental image of them dressed as old ladies, with bonnets on top of their heads, brought a small smile on her face.

"Hmm, training. Sasuke still hasn't mastered water walking well. He sinks to his knees, and Sakura is working on her reserves," came the reply from said sensei, who had yet to look up from the book. Not that she was surprised at that. It was nothing new.

Zabuza growled at the giggling man who once again was engrossed in his book.

"Zabuza-sama, Hakate-san," Haku intervened, "if I may I'll take Kochō-san to look through the scrolls I have on Herbs and flora of Elemental nations to pass the time while they are in Wave."

"Mah, I don't mind, Haku-kun," Kakashi told the boy.

"Do as you like," was Zabuza's gruff reply. "And Haku," he continued, "after a while, check on the kid, will ya?"

Haku bowed politely. "I will, Zabuza-sama."

Kochō took the last warm sip from her cup and a contented sigh left her mouth when the last vestiges of her sleepy disposition disapeared.

Zabuza gave Kakashi a pointed look after the two had left and the men were alone, sans Tazuna who was still unconscious from the blood loss.

"Mah, too much of a hassle."

"Your lazy training regime aside," Zabuza said with a scowl at his fellow shinobi, "I held up my end of the bargain and you held to yours. I've received the money that Gatō owed us, so why are you still here?"

"Our mission was to stay until Tazuna-san finishes the bridge, so let me return the question: why are you still here?"

"Hmph, curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Zabuza."

"Tch, then I am fortunate that I am not a feline, then."

"So I guess you'll hang around our hyperactive knucklehead?"

"That, and spar with you."

"Huh?"

"For a legendary, you were a pushover."

"Eh?"

"I caught you in my Water prison."

"So?"

"Sharingan no Kakashi, a copy nin of a thousand jutsus, got his ass kicked by sphere of water. For shame."

Kakashi closed the book with a snap. "You want to go at it now?"

"Hell yeah."

Haku stopped abruptly after he and Kochō had retrieved a triumphant but slightly winded Naruto, with Sakura and Sasuke bringing up the rear. Sakura was barely walking, but she commented on the fact that her chakra reserves had gotten larger so it was worth it, and Kakashi-sensei's clone had taught her two Doton jutsu. So it was no surprise that when the boy in front of her stopped, she collided with his back.

"Huh, is something wrong, Haku-san?" she asked, then stepped around the shocked raven-haired boy, right between him and Naruto, who was holding his hand on his forehead, watching with an incredulous expression at the tableau before them. Sasuke's eyes were as large as dinner plates.

"Zabuza-sama?" Haku let out, though the other slightly younger teens around him could not decide if he was scolding, or just too shocked at his teacher's appearanc.

"I am alright, Haku," wheezed out Zabuza, while Kakashi just waved from his spot, and then slowly lowered his forehead protector back over his Sharingan eye.

"I am fine too, in case my students were wondering."

Naruto just waved him away, causing Kakashi to drop his head back at the scorched grass, muttering about 'how cruel his students were'.

"What happened –ttebayoo?"

"It looks like something exploded."

Sakura just stared. "Ex... exploded…ack," was all that she could let out, because of the sheer destruction that surrounded her.

"Mah, my little students, no need to worry. It was just a little spar."

"A little spar?"

"Yep, we decided on terms and everything," Kakashi said with an eye smile.

"What terms?" Sasuke asked, his eyebrow twitching violently.

"B-rank and below jutsu and Tajutsu only. Well, that was until Zabuta used Mizurappa."

"It was at lower level."

"Really?"

"If I used it at full power you wouldn't be here right now. Besides, you are one to talk. You used Fire missiles along with your lightning attack." Zabuza snorted and made air quotes. "At the low power."

"And you still call this a little spar –ttebayoo! The house is destroyed!" Naruto exploded.

"The house can be fixed. Don't make a fuss, Naruto," Kakashi commented, while raising himself to a sitting position.

"What house, Kakashi-sensei? At this point, it would be better to blow up the house and build a new one." Kochō looked at their cool-as-a-cucumber teacher. Did they have to destroy everything during a spar? Their battle for their lives when they'd first met hadn't done this much damage. What the hell?

"What happened to my house?" cried Tazuna, looking at his ruined house, yard and surrounding area.

"Don't worry, Tazuna-san. My cute little Genin will fix it."

"We will?" muttered a still wide-eyed Sasuke, while Sakura could only stare in horror at the wreckage.

"WHAT? You lazy sensei dattebayoo!" shouted Naruto, pointing at the bandaged Kakashi and Zabuza.

"Haku, you'll help."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama."

"Well, brat…I guess I won our bet. It's sunrise."

"I am absolutely pissed off now. Dattebayo," muttered Naruto, not hearing what Zabuza had just said. Only the words of Kakashi were ping ponging around in his brain. Sasuke slowly inched away, followed by Kochō, who grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her away. Haku just created Ice mirrors to hide himself and Tazuna.

And just in time for when the enraged voice of Naruto was heard once again. "Suiton: Bakusui Shōha!"

The Genin plus Haku and Tazuna watched in some sort of sick fascination as huge waves of water crashed down on the two jōnin level shinobi, washing them away in huge whirlpools.

"Well," drawled Sasuke, "we might as well just start building the house anew now, since Naruto has demolished what was left."

"That's alright. I'll make blue prints for the new house," commented a now-calm Tazuna. "We'll have to wait till the earth dries." Even if his house was gone, he was pretty sure that at least the students of that lazy jōnin and Zabuza's apprentice would manage to build his home back up with him. After all, they, well, Konoha's little guys, had helped to build the bridge while they were guarding it.

"No need." Kochō stepped forward, bringing both her hands to her face. "Katon: Kurimuzondoragon hōkō!" As soon as the words were out of Kochō's mouth, she slammed her palms to the ground. Crimson flames engulfed her entire body, then spread out from her palms, heating the ground and making the air dance, while earth and stone melted. When she stood up, the ground bore the appearance of a volcanic eruption.

Sakura then stepped forward and grinned at Kochō, who just gave a go-ahead motion. "My turn now. Doton: Doro Hōshi." At the command of the pinkette, a river of mud breached through the surface, mixing with the hot earth and causing steam to rise.

"It's not enough," muttered Sakura. Kochō nodded. "Sakura, can you help me keep an eye out? I don't want to go with too much water."

"Got it."

"Here I go." Kochō again kneeled down. "Suiton: Haran Banshō." And so Kochō summoned a massive amount of water from the sky. The water then crashed in to the mud that Sakura had created, stirring it and aiding it in cooling and evening out the ground where Tazuna new house would be built. The reason why Kochō had chosen this jutsu was simply because if needed, the user could cancel the technique in an instant.

Meanwhile, thoroughly drenched and additionally battered by waves and various pieces of debris, two shinobi were lying on the ground in very uncomfortable positions, panting and heaving as they tried to clear their lungs.

"Cough, you, cough lost again, Zabuza."

"Shut it, Kakashi. I don't need any of that from you."

"Oh, touchy."

Week later, after Tazuna's bridge and his house were completed, Team Kakashi was returning to Konoha.

Said Jōnin of Team Seven was again walking behind his students, who were walking together before him talking about…who knows…leaving Kakashi alone to his thoughts or reading, whichever he preferred. But being a jōnin, he was perfectly capable of doing both well while walking too. It could never be said that Hakate Kakashi was unable to multitask.

So he walked, read an …evaluated his students. After all, he would have to write a report for Hokage about their progress. But if their progress continued to proceed as well as it had till now…they would be ready for the Chūnin exams that would take place in Konoha in six months. So mentally going through their weaknesses and strengths, he also formulated a training regime. But something he had decided he wouldn't make them do any more was D-Rank missions. Let it be known that he did have some sense of self preservation and sanity. After all, four of his little cute Genin were also very vengeful and if he saddled them with a D-Rank after making them build Tazuna's house after he and Zabuza trashed it during their little spar…

Also, he would have to replace Sakura's wooden training sansetsukon for one made from iron wince her learning to use the weapon was coming along nicely. She had managed to burst Zabuza's water clone, although granted he had not been using a weapon either.

As for Sasuke's Sharingan, perhaps he had been wrong and Sasuke hadn't activate his bloodline limit just yet. So he supposed that he would have to postpone teaching him Chidori and teach him some long range Raiton jutsu instead. He would also have to work at the hospital, just as his late teammate Rin had.

As for Naruto, he could work on seal theory, and perhaps he should ask Hokage to release information on Kushina-sama to Naruto and get her personal scrolls and such. After all, the Legacy of the Uzumaki clan, Fūinjutsu, was Naruto's birthright.

Kochō would spend her time in the library looking at plants and working on her element manipulation and illusions. Perhaps he could ask Kurenai to help her with that. Maybe between them, they could broaden her repertoire in illusions.

Waking in her own bed again took some getting used to, Kochō thought as she stretched. Nami no Kuni seemed like a distant dream now and Team Seven had only been home for what…a week? And most of that week they had trained, learned and met with other Rookie teams. The only downside was that she had to make tea that knocked her out for hours so that she didn't have any weird dreams. She would have to figure out a solution for that, or insomnia would get her killed in the field.

Fortunately, she had read something in Merric's diaries that he hadn't sent to England before this new life. Luckily, she had written it down. It was a simple meditated ritual which brought dreams and/or memories to the forefront. A ritual called 'Iter apud nere somnia et memorias' was the incantation. She would also need black wax candles, which she would have to make; a crystal sphere, but she had a crystal paperweight somewhere; and some herbs that she had in her room.

Well, she supposed she would have to go to the forest and see if she could find some beeswax. She got dressed in a white yukata with green patterns printed on it, with a black and red sash around her waist.

"Good morning, mom."

"Atto, Kochō, it's not morning. It's already almost lunch time," came the call from the kitchen.

Groaning, Kochō turned from the door that she had almost walked out of.

"Kaa-san, why didn't you wake me?"

"Your sensei come by and told us you haven't been sleeping well. Everything all right?"

"Yes, don't worry. See!"

"You do look rested. Now wait for lunch before rushing out."

"Yes, Kaa-san. Need any help?"

"No dear, you just sit down and rest some more."

"All right."

Maybe Shino could help her out with getting some beeswax. Thinking of Shino, she thought of his team. Team 8 had taken over the Catch Tora mission, and Kiba was as proud as Naruto, viewing him as a sort of rival, always had. It galled him that his team hadn't broken Team 7's record yet. Much to Kiba's irritation, she'd heard that he had screamed his displeasure to the high heavens, but that might be because Tora had scratched Akamaru. After all, cats and dogs didn't see eye to eye, especially Tora and nin dogs.

She also managed to have some words with Hinata in the days following Team Seven's return home. Now that had been painfully slow conversation. Don't get her wrong, she liked Hinata. In fact, if she could have her as a little sister it would make her happy. Her stutter just wouldn't go away, but she had been doing so well when they'd had that sleepover at the Yamanaka compound. It had almost been non-existent then.

Maybe they should meet up and have another sleepover soon. Or perhaps a sparring session, just the girls. And maybe later a boys vs. girls kind of competition. Hmm, Kochō thought, perhaps she should talk with Ino about it. Come to think of it, Team 10 had left on their very own C rank today.

What amazed her was that after they had come back, they'd found out that Team Ten had gotten a fourth member as well. Somebody they'd met, or rather somebody she'd introduced to her former classmates.

One Kurama Yakumo, aka Asuka.

Kochō was glad that the girl was doing well. It amused her to no end how Ino took over as protective older sister to Yakumo, which made Yakumo more outgoing as well, not to mention Kochō thought that Choji was developing a crush on the Kurama clan heiress.

Meanwhile, Naruto was standing before his two on-off teachers, Shiranui Genma and Namiashi Raidō, waiting for their response.

Genma whistled. "Now that was an adventure, Naruto," he said, smiling and patting Naruto on the head.

"They were lucky it ended as it did," stated Raidō calmly. "Kakashi-san should have called for backup sooner than he did." And even then he had called ANBU only after he and his Genin had cleared out Gatō's mercenaries and money.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, slightly embarrassed. "You know, Genma-sensei, Raidō-sensei, I kind of liked those two."

Genma shifted his senbon in his mouth, smiling. "Well, it wouldn't be you if you hadn't taken a liking to strays. Or being liked by them in return."

"Anyway, we'd better start. Now in six months Konoha will host the Chūnin Exams, and Hatake will probably nominate your team, Naruto." Though Team Seven and Team Ten would have to abide by the rule that only a three men cell could participate, meaning that one Genin from 7 and one Genin from 8 would be teamed up with some other Genin. Chances were that the Genin would be older than them. There were quite a few Genin in Konoha who hadn't made Chūnin yet.

Morino Idate, Ibiki's brother, was among them. Now that was an interesting development, thought Raidō, and he supposed that Idate was fortunate that Jiraya had stumbled on him and Rokushō Aoi, though that man had managed to run away, something that hadn't been repeated in Mizuki incident.

"Naruto." Genma voice brought Raidō from his musings. "Your fighting skill with Shadow clones is utterly pathetic."

Naruto slumped. "Now now, Naruto, no need for that. Since you did master the style of Taijutsu that I use, for adding Kage Bunshin, there is a need for adjustments."

"All right, let's get started –ttebayoo!"

"Not so fast," Raidō intervened. "After your Tajutsu practice, we'll do some Kenjutsu and Strategies you can implement in the Chūnin Exams.

"Like what –ttebayoo?"

"For starters, Clan techniques in Konoha and other villages."

"Uh?"

At the same time, near the Forest of Death.

"Oy, pinky maggot! Duck!" yelled Anko, while laughing like a maniac, while she hurled Kunai, Shurikan and the occasional Katon jutsu at Sakura, who dodged most of the projectiles. But scrapes that were dripping blood and various burn marks testified to the fact that some of them found their mark.

Sasuke, unlike his teammates, was stuck in a classroom at the hospital taking an exam to be a Field Genin medic.

Team Seven met a couple of days later after they had gotten rest from their respective training regimes for another C-Rank mission. For this one, Naruto's wish to escort a princess was fulfilled, but that was not the only reason why Naruto was on cloud nine. He had finally learned who his mother was, one Uzumaki Kushina, and the Hokage had released her scrolls to her son.

Not only that, but Kakashi had promised that on their way back from escorting Kurisutaru -hime from Mitsu no Kuni to Tsume no Kuni, where she would get married to the eldest son of a Tsume daimyō, they would visit the ruins of Uzushiogakure no Sato in Uzu no Kuni, the resting place of Uzumaki Ichizoku.

**End Chapter**.

**Translations and what is what**:

**Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**-Water Dragon Bullet Technique shapes a large amount of water into a giant, powerful dragon, which hits the opponent with formidable might, dealing physical damage.

**Suiton: Bakusui Shōha**-Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave The user spits out a great volume of water from their mouth, swallowing up and crushing the enemy with the advancing surge. The user can ride the wave, allowing them to move at high speed, and attack the enemy, now swept off their feet, without fear of counter-attacks. The amount of water created is proportional to the amount of chakra used

**Suiton: Mizu Kamikiri**-Water Release: Rising Water Slicer This technique will create a fast jet of water running through the ground that is powerful enough to slice through solid rock. However, it can easily be avoided by jumping upwards. The water blades can also be sent above ground level to strike down jumping targets.

**Katon: Kurimuzondoragon hōkō** – Fire Release: Crimson dragon roar (this is mine) and description is in the text.

**Doton: Doro Hōshi** -Earth Release: Mud Spore This technique lets the user summon a river of mud.

**Suiton: Haran Banshō**- Water Release: Stormy Blockade This technique allows the user to summon a massive amount of water from the sky, crashing it onto the opponent. If needed, the user can cancel the technique in an instant.

**Sakkaku: Burakkurōzu no Mai** - Illusion: Black roses dance –Illusion that Buffy invented, it shows the target what caster wants, and it ensnares all five senses –six if we count chakra- meaning the target doesn't know or shows that he/she is in the illusion. But while powerful it has a time limit and it only works on one target. It was used on Gatō. Buffy is working on widespread illusion but so far there is no success. Neither Sharingan or Byakugan can see through it. Though for Sharingan Buffy doesn't know. Yet.

**Iter apud nere somnia et memorias** – Translates from Latin to: Journey amongst wavering of dreams and memories

**Ryō**- A Ryō was a gold currency unit in pre-Meiji Japan Shakkanhō system. It was eventually replaced with a system based on the yen. The Tokugawa shogunate attempted to create a central currency, based on gold, silver and copper units all exchangeable at fixed rates. Oblong gold coins, called koban, were minted with one koban containing about one ryō of gold, so that koban carried a face value of one ryō. The official rate was set in 1609 at one ryō equal to 50 monme (approx 187 grams) of silver or 4000 brass coins. However, in reality the relative values between gold, silver and brass currencies fluctuated on an almost daily basis throughout the Edo period.

**Sansetsukon** - The three-sectional staff, triple staff, three-part staff, sansetsukon in Japanese.

**Mitsu no Kuni**- The Land of Honey

**Tsume no Kuni**-The Land of Claws

**Uzushiogakure no Sato-** Village hidden in whirlpools

**Uzu no Kun**i- The Land of Whirlpools

**Uzumaki Ichizoku**- The Uzumaki clan


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimers**: There are scenes taken (and adapted) from Naruto Chapter 670 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 5, Episode Restless.

**Chapter 6**

Konohagakure no Sato was a fairly large village, most people thought it a grand and secure place, but it was nothing compared to Uzugakure, even destroyed as it were, the tall, vast structures still bare witness to its once majestic settlement.

Something that five figures walking trough desolate land knew well, after all Konoha and Uzu were once allies.

There were buildings. Lots of them big and small, made from red stone and adorned by Uzumaki swirl, but not one was whole.

What all of them had found strange was that while the buildings were damaged, it wasn't damage from the passage of time

In fact, green paint on door frames and various other bright colours, orange among them, were looking as if freshly painted. All looked frozen in time, no birds singing, or insect in sight. Dead trees, with not a hint of green stood like skeletons on watch on the abandoned pirate ship and burnt grass or cracked ground, not even the air moved. The buildings however were different structure than those of Konoha, indeed, however only Kochō recognised the Architecture that looked like that of a mix of Japanese and Greece, with Mediterranean arches. _And were those frescos on the walls?_ Truly the Ghost town of Elemental nations.

If they'd been unaware that Uzu was ruined decades ago, they'd thought attack on the village, no city, since it was much larger than Konoha, even the smallest building was bigger than the Hokage tower.

Soon curiosity warred within Naruto and so he finally reached out and traced the writing on the pillar, just as his fingertips made contact with the cool surface, the seal array glowed in to existence and before Naruto could think to react, in the blinding florescent green light the five shinobi vanished.

Reappearing in a circular room, Kochō gasped, this was it…this was what she was dreaming about since Wave mission four weeks ago. Her shock was however put on hold, when Naruto's voice was heard.

"Did I do that?"

Kochō snorted, Sakura introduced her palm to her forehead and Sasuke introduced his palm to the back of Naruto's head.

"Not funny, Naruto." he grumbled.

"Anyway, since we are here, let's explore –ttebayo!"

"We should look for exit though." The voice of reason Kakashi, added.

But then something strange happened…the Kanji and wall paintings glowed softly and suddenly …

* * *

Kakashi found himself standing in the clearing by lit camp fire before the familiar kind-faced man with dark eyes which had deep lines running underneath them, with spiky, silver-colored hair that reached into the middle of his back tied in a ponytail and bangs that hung over his forehead protector, of Konoha no Shiroi Kiba … Hatake Sakumo his father. His father whom died of wounds that he inflicted on himself.

"Hello son."

* * *

Naruto was looking around at the weird place he found himself in…and even weirder old man. A man who was way older than jiji, trough the older than Hokaje-jiji the geezer actually had horns. And he had closed eyes. And in his right hand he held a staff, that had two big rings on either end only the ring on one end was in the shape of crescent moon, while the other was full circle and had six smaller rings inside it. That was not all, Naruto noted, the geezer was floating.

"Your reaction … I had already partly predicted that you might react this way." Geezer said calmly, his eyes still closed.

"Gah, great I got an old geezer that likes to lecture people.-ttebayoo."

The geezer opened his eyes then and Naruto froze…that pattern, he was almost sure he saw that somewhere.

"Your eyes." He stated, watching the man warily. "Is it a condition or a blood line?"

"You are good at observing people," Geezer nodded to him, "I hope you understand the situation you are currently in?"

"My team and I were in the runs and tripped something up?"

"Yes, Uzugakure's training seal, but your and one other chakra overlapped and brought me forward."

"And who are you, again dattebayo?"

"My name is or rather was Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo but I believe you know me more under the title of Rikudō Sennin."

"Ah, yes," Naruto nodded, "I am Uzumaki Naruto. And that still doesn't tell me anything. I never heard of you."

Hagoromo nodded. "Yes, well, youngsters are not meant to sit still and read dusty and boring scrolls. I am the one who created Ninshū."

"Ninjutsu, you are the one that…" He thought aloud before being cut off by the geezer.

"Not ninjutsu, Ninshū! My Ninshū was created to inspire hope. Do not confuse it with ninjutsu, which was made to create war!" He shouted slamming his staff.

The old man composed himself, taking a deep breath Naruto, now sensing an important, but probably boring, lecture ahead decided to sit down.

"I exemplified my teachings by distributing chakra meant to "connect" people's spiritual energies with one another. It would allow people to understand each other without communication and would allow them pray for each others safety. However, people didn't use the chakra to connect with others, but to instead connect their inner spiritual and physical energies together. They kneaded their inner chakra to amplify it and transform it into today ninjutsu. In the end, they ended up using their chakra in battle, just as my mother Kaguya did."

"Your mother?"

* * *

Kochō is standing in a desert across from her stands a skittish, balding and bespectacled man in old woollen suit. He is dangling two slices of cheese before Kochō's face.

With an eye twitch the girl reaches out and rips the cheese out of man hands.

"I don't like cheese."

At that the man pulls a plate of American cheese and offers it to irritated kunoichi.

"I made a little space for the cheese slices."

Once again Kochō interrupts, but this time she slams the plate, cheese and all, in the man's face.

"Look Cheese fruitcake man, I am pretty sure this is some sort of vision quest, or whatever, but one: I seriously dislike cheese, and two: what in blue hell does cheese wearing man in tacky woolen suit have to do with vision quest?."

"It does but not for you." comes the voice from behind her.

Kochō turners around to watch a young sandy haired woman in flowing Indian garb striding toward her. Shrugging off the sheer weirdness of this vision thing she turns away from the man. Who at the moment is saying as it nothing happened, still covered in slices of cheese.

"I wear the cheese." He said as if nothing happened, "cheese doesn't wear me."

Ignoring the nuisance, for now, Kochō turns her full attention to unfamiliar woman.

"For who then?" She asked.

"Her," the woman she points toward the dune where a brunette girl in leather trousers and jacket is rolling with a tall, white painted woman in rags with dreaded black hair down the dune kicking and punching as they went.

"Huh…?" was Kochō reply, while the cheese man dangled cheese yet again,

"These will not protect you."

A vain throbbed at the back of the Kochō head and she slowly turned to the face the cheese man, wearing a thin smile on her face.

The man whipped another slice from somewhere and offered it to Kochō, which resulted in flying man that got a falcon punched so hard it propelled him across the space toward the two fighting on the sand, with a shouted, "Get lost creep!" from the irritated shinobi.

With that taken care off she turned back toward the speaker. Coming to realization of in which vision or whatever she intruded by accident.

"They are Slayers aren't they?"

"Yes as you once were," The woman nodded, "the first and the last in the line."

"And I?"

"You are no longer; you are a shadow and a thought a diversion of what you once were."

"But I am still connected."

"Yes." she answered simply.

"Aha and why is that?" Kocho asked.

"You weren't supposed to leave."

"Er, did you happen to not notice that it was written that Slayer shall face the Master. And Die, for her trouble?" The kunoichi replied with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yes but it wasn't meant to remain that way."

"Ah so not only that I in a way flunked the written, in being reborn with all memories of Buffy Summers, but I flunked unwritten, that's…" a giggle escaped her then a full blown laughter followed close behind. Once she came down she looked the blond woman in her gray eyes.

"My name is Shunran Kochō not Buffy Summers, I might have been her and this new life is unplanned but it is mine. And it will stay mine and mine alone"

"That is truth, but you don't know who you are, what's to come. You are at the beginning."

Kochō nodded, that was the truth, she did sometime wonder who she was, especially when she was younger, she had mini identity crisis on occasion, and in retrospect she didn't know how much she changed, or how things will turn out in the future.

"So oh wise one, any advice? Since I am no longer the Slayer the cryptic is no longer necessary." said Kochō with a slight upward tilt of her lips.

"You are no longer alone, remember that."

"Okay..."

"Slayer walks alone, she lives in action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound, and she is destruction. Absolute. Alone."

"Even as a Slayer I wasn't alone."

"You were the Chosen one, and The Slayer doesn't walk in this world."

"Perhaps not, but I am no longer the one."

"No you are not. Remember that."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, chose your companion wisely." She said while motioned around herself.

"What...oh pretty?" Kochō observed butterfly flying past, then she saw a mole peak from the ground and lastly, she looked up when she heard a cry from above and saw a bat flying above her.

"Wait, companion? You don't mean I'll get summon somehow, because none of those are in Konoha," then she thought a moment and added, "That I know off."

"Yes, you'll have to chose one and decide whom to give the other two. You don't have much time."

Now wasn't that just great, wait, she thought, she knew just who should get a mole, her teacher and friend that is blind, the guy she had a crush on when she was younger…hey he might be blind but he was cute even then and 17 year old when she fished him out of the river and used CPR. It did help that the guy knew about her previous life. But perhaps she should not jump the horses after all she didn't have any (type of) contract just yet.

But then so could a bat. Or maybe she should just give him both. And she'd keep butterflies. After all Naruto will get a contract from his Godfather, Sasuke will get a hawk contract, and Sakura a slug from Tsunade.

* * *

Sasuke was staring at a very tall, pale man, who looked far older than Hokage did with deep wrinkles and spiky, shoulder length pale red hair with chain length braid hanging in front his left ear. What Sasuke found odd however were two horn like protrusions on his head.

"Hn."

Sakura was looking over a lake … she knew that this was some sort of test or something, but she didn't know what to do.

So she started to walk around.

With Sasuke who was standing and listening to the Kono Yo no Kyūseishu.

"Yes my mother, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, she came here in this land and since she longed for pace she had eaten the fruit of the Shinju. And so she put an end to all conflict, for this she was worshiped as the Usagi no Megami."

"Hn."

"You really remind me of my eldest, Indra was his name." Hagoromo slammed his staff into the ground, causing ripples as an image formed. Sasuke looked down as the image grew clearer and clearer, until the raven could see a reflection of a man with long brown hair cut short on top, with two locks wrapped in bandages framing either side of his face. His eyebrows were cut short, a symbol of his nobility of old, Sasuke knew, and his eyes had blue markings around them, which were turned up at the corners. He wore a high-collared, light-coloured kimono held closed by a dark sash. Around the collar of the kimono was adorned with magatama under which he wore a black full-bodied suit.

Feeling that he'll have to prod the hermit with questions Sasuke asked the expected question.

"And the other son?"

"You know identity of transmigration of Ashura, Sasuke."

"Hn."

And indeed he did, Sasuke thought.

* * *

Kakashi was sitting comfortably across his father, seeing the man again brought many pleasant memories from his childhood back.

He gave a wry chuckle, he had been so eager to grow up back then.

* * *

Sakura watched wide eyed at the two children now clinging to her legs, she had been walking and then suddenly she found herself standing in a spacious room, filled with beautiful furniture, when two kids ran in calling her Kaa-san.

And she was a grown up…and a jōnin judging by her flak jacket….and a mom. _What is going on here?!_

* * *

"Get to the damn point, Senin-jiji –ttebayo!" A now frustrated Naruto yelled.

"Hmm, the point is its no use if you fret, therefore I will ask you." Hagoromo said watching irritable blonde before him. "No you must ask me about my mother and sons."

Naruto made a face, "How can I ask you about that if I don't even know who my father was? I know Uzumaki Kushina was my mother, but they never told me who my father was dattebayo."

"Hn," Sake give a nod, understanding the youngsters dilemma. Before he hit his staff again, disrupting the image of Ashura, which was slowly replaced by image of someone Naruto had seen before, the Yondaime Hokage.

Blinking Naruto needed only a couple of heartbeats to put two and two together. He really wanted to slap himself silly, and then yell at the top of his lungs at the general stupidity and blindness that plagued Konoha. How in the world did people miss the resemblance? He was like, a mini Yondaime! With slight difference in the shape of his face, but still, come on!

"That's…"

"Yes, your father. Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage is, was and forever will be father of Uzumaki-Namikaze Naruto."

"Right," he took a deep shaky breath, then Naruto fixed his eyes on the Sake of six paths, "before I ask about your mother and sons, we should wait for Sasuke. After all this should concern him as well."

"Hm, like I said good observations, yes, as you are Transmigrant of Ashura, Sasuke is Transmigrant of Indra."

"Well, we might not be blood, but we are family." Naruto said.

"He is already present Naruto, you just need to reach to your left with your fist."

Naruto raised his hand then made a fist, and then he raises it to his left, "Like that ttebayo?" He asked and soon saw his friend beside him

"Naruto." The dark-haired boy greeted.

"Yo Sasuke."

"Hm, unlike previous Transmigrants you seem to be close. Even Ashura and Indra haven't been like that."

"We are friends –dattebayo."

"And teammates."

"And family to."

"Very well, perhaps, yes I'll show you the sequence of events that draw my sons apart as well as what happened by the set of Transmigrants that come before the two of you Senju Harashima and Uchiha Madara."

* * *

Sakura blinked open her eyes, and then started when she saw a familiar figure sitting across her.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei."

"Well it seems you are the first out of the Kako, genzai oyobi shōrai no ishidzukuri no āchi." Commented Kakashi.

"What?"

"It appears that Genin of Uzu, went trough different training, by facing the past present and future, hence the name inscribed on top."

Sakura looked back and sure there at the top in neon orange was the inscription 'Kako, genzai oyobi shōrai no ishidzukuri no āchi' then her eyes wandered down at her 3 team-mates who were still in trance.

But what she found weird that both boys were holding their hands in fist bump, both emitting chakra that made booth boys bodies glow.

Kochō however was standing still with her eyes closed, while circles of water and fire interloped around her.

* * *

Kochō was standing by the now named Tara, or at least according to the Slayer in front of her something that borrowed an image of Tara that the dark-haired Slayer knew.

"Make her speak." The brunette demanded.

"I speak for her."

"I don't care," then she points at the Primitive circling them, sniffling the air around the Slayer and stealing glances at Kochō, something that both shinobi and a slayer notice, but only Kochō has an idea why the First Slayer is curios about her, not that her replacement cares at the moment.

"Why did you follow me around and what did you do with my friends? And boyfriend?"

"You are asking the wrong questions." Tara states.

"Make. Her. Talk." Every word comes out deliberately with a slight threat underlining it, promising pain.

"I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone."

Brown eyes widening, Kochō can see older girl no young woman, she is sure she is in her twenties or late teens, coming to realization just who was following her, attacking her and now circling in front of her.

"The Slayer." She whispers.

Tara nods, "The First." The first slayer stands erect standing defiantly between Kochō and The slayer.

Brunette looks at the picture she holds then holds it up, for them all to see… Kochō blinks then stares, this living room, and the some of the people sleeping on couches so familiar and…she breathes in calmly realizing that apparently time move differently there, her friends that she made coming to that hell hole are alive and apparently helping the Slayer that come after her and her mom, or rather Buffy's mom was there as well. It made her feel…liberated, like a weight in her heart lifted. She didn't even know that this weighed so heavily on her.

"I'm not alone."

The First Slayer growls at the young woman, bearing her teeth like some feral creature, well Kochō thinks she looks like those wax figures in Natural museum that show how cave people lived.

"The slayer doesn't walk in the world."

"I walk. I talk. I ride a bike. I'm hungry. I'm horny. I'm going to be a pilot or a policewoman. There are trees in the desert since you moved out and I definitely don't sleep on a bed of bones. Now give my family and friends back!"

Kochō startles when a raspy, scratchy voice breaks from The First Slayers lips, struggling to break trough.

"No … friends … just the kill … we are alone." She could say, that she was surprised, faintly as well as relived that the Slayer after her befriended the same people she called friends, as well as sort of adopted her mother…she stopped her self, no, Joyce. Then irritation surges forward, along with twitch in the eye and pulsing vain at the back of her head. For the Cheese Man leans out of nowhere in between them, dangling slices of cheese invitingly.

_Oh hell no!_

Before the two slayers could come to blows, and Tara or whatever it was disappeared as soon as The First Slayer started to talk, the twelve year old lavender haired kunoichi jumped kicked the cheese man so that he collided with Cave woman and sent them spiraling to the ground.

"Enough is enough!" she snarled, flashing through hand signs, stopping at snake seal. "Magen: Samatageru no Teishi."

The brunet raised her eyebrows when she observed First Slayer and the man in woollen suit struggle under some invisible restrains.

"Now that was awesome!" she exclaimed and looked at the little kid that was until now just standing there watching her.

Kochō smiled at the 20 something Slayer that replaced her.

"Thanks, but I think is time for both of us to wake up."

"Yeah," the brunette eyed her warily, "So no cryptic stuff."

"Nah, have no patience for it, besides this vision, dream whatever is well learning experience for both of us." Kochō waved the brunettes concerns away.

"Ah."

"But," the slayer rolled her eyes muttering here we go cryptic stuff from a midget. And was rewarded by twitching eyebrow, "don't take prophecies as gospel, keep your loved ones close and I am not a midget I am twelve."

"Sure cutie pie princess." Snarked the Slayer and let out a bark of in laughter when the kid blushed and puffed up her cheeks.

* * *

Before Sakura's eyes, the swirls of fire and water disappeared suddenly and her female teammate opened her eyes.

"Sakura?"

Sakura nodded, and watched as Kochō trailed her amber eyes reading the words inscribed on the arch.

"Aha. So that was that." Then her golden gaze stopped at still standing and fist bumping boys to Kakashi who was reading his book.

"Well, I suppose we have no other choice but to wait for…" she trailed off when the boys suddenly moved from the arch. "Never mind now."

"Dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed.

And before anyone could utter another word the familiar light enveloped them and as suddenly as they had disappeared, they reappeared by the pillar that Naruto touched, triggering the whole thing.

"I am not going to ask what it is that you saw, but if you want to talk about it I'll be here." Kakashi said to the teens with an eye smile.

"Well I and Sasuke met an old Geezer who liked to lecture -ttebayo." Naruto cast quick glance to Sasuke, first they'll discuss what they found out among themselves then maybe share with their sensei and teammates.

"I met a guy with an obsession with cheese."

"Kids, met kids." Sakura stated still feeling dazed (or shocked maybe) by her encounter.

"Okay my cute Genin, I think is time to get our C-Rank mission underway, don't you?"

"Hai Sensei!" came the answer from the four teens. And so they were off.

**End chapter.**

**Next**: Call for help

**Translations**:

Rikudō Sennin- Sage of the Six Paths

Kono Yo no Kyūseishu- Savior of this World

Usagi no Megami- Rabbit Goddess

Ninshū- Shinobi Sect

Kako, genzai oyobi shōrai no ishidzukuri no āchi- stone arches of past present and future

* Slayer that has a fight with First Slayer in the desert is Faith. The time moves differently, like Buffy realized when she saw images of the people she once called friends and her mother.

Magen: Samatageru no Teishi – demonic Illusion: Standstill binding, that justsu belongs to me, its under genjutsu and it effects all senses, the victims perceive total binding around them, with no visible way out. Immobilizing them completely and rendering them vulnerable to physical attack.


End file.
